“Rather than focus on bringing girls into STEM practices, efforts to increase female representation should focus on bringing STEM into girls’ practices”
CuddleCode is a customizable and programmable stuffed animal for girls ages 6-10. It aims to increase female engagement in STEM by allowing for a more feminine and emotionally-connected approach to technology.
CuddleCode’s body parts attach to its body with Velcro so that they can easily be removed, replaced, and rearranged. Customize your CuddleCode by assembling it however you want!
CuddleCode is built on top of a Micro:bit, so it can be programmed using MakeCode for Micro:bit. Template code to get you started is available here and a MakeCode extension is coming soon!
CuddleCode’s most empowering feature is its ability to be cuddled.
By providing a more feminine, or “interactive and connected” (Turkle & Papert), approach to programming CuddleCode creates a welcoming avenue for girls to join the maker movement.
Increasing Female Representation in STEM
MUltiple Ways of Knowing
Many women have been seen to prefer a more “relational, interactive, and connected approach to objects,” but the computer culture seems to undervalue this in favor of a structured, plan-based approach (Turkle & Papert, p. 150). By discouraging a more feminine, concrete approach, the computer culture effectively excludes many girls and women from engaging in programming.
CuddleCode creates a welcoming avenue for girls to join the maker movement by celebrating and encouraging more these more feminine approaches to computer programming.
Transitional Objects
“[are] collectible; or huggable; or something that you give to your parents; or something that you miss when you take a trip and leave it at home; or furry; or a million other things”
– Michael Eisenberg, p. 34
CuddleCode is a stuffed animal that is made to be hugged, cuddled, and shared with family and friends, thus serving as an “emotional artifact” (Eisenberg, p.34). CuddleCode also serves as a “cognitive artifact” (Eisenberg, p.34) as it enables girls to explore and manipulate the capabilities of its various parts through the acts of physical assembly and computer programming.
REFERENCES
Eisenberg, M. (2003). Mindstuff: Educational Technology Beyond the Computer. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 9(2), 29–53. https://doi.org/10.1177/135485650300900205.
Turkle, S., & Papert, S. (1990). Epistemological Pluralism: Styles and Voices within the Computer Culture. Signs, 16(1), 128–157. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3174610