400 Girls Go To Tech Course

Around 400 primary school age girls were invited to participate in a tech and science course at the University of Reykjavík to encourage their interest in STEM, reports RÚV.

The girls were introduced to coding, tested the strength of chicken bones and built electric motors.

This is the fourth year, primary aged girls were invited to participate in the course and already it’s paying off. In 2011, only 11% of girls moving on to high school chose classes in computer sciences, but last fall that number was up to 28%.

“The thing is, whether in corporate boardrooms or tech companies, teams with both men and women always deliver the best work so we need more diversity in the STEM sector like any other,” said Jóhanna Vigdís Guðmundsdóttir, Head of the University of Reykjavík.

When asked whether the course had encouraged her to seek a career in STEM, ninth grader Sigurrós Hávarðardóttir told RÚV, “I really haven’t thought that far ahead man, I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up yet.”