​Girl Hack is Global Kids’ interdisciplinary program for girls grades 9-12 that explores domestic and global girls and women’s issues through game design and computer programming. The program covers the historical, current and future challenges women and girls face throughout their life cycle including child marriage, global standards of beauty, access to education, water and sanitation, reproductive health rights, workplace discrimination, unemployment and more. Participants are exposed to how these issues are addressed through a human rights framework, particularly international treaties and conventions such as the UDHR and CEDAW.

The first half of the school year, students were introduced to a variety of topics around girls’ and women’s issues. Topics this year ranged from global standards of beauty to the wage gap, access to education, and reproductive rights. The students would spend the bulk of the workshop exploring the topic and then spend the final 30 minutes of each session learning a new skill on the computer and producing original work online. For example, students learned how to code their own meme on the topic of beauty standards using Vidcode and they created simple animations in Scratch on the topic of education. 

During the second half of the school year, students dove deep into game design theory and focused heavily on building their skills with block-based coding in Scratch. During each session, students would begin with an activity on game design, exploring the five elements of a game and learning how to “remix” or alter famous games like Tic Tac Toe and Rock Paper Scissors to use their creativity skills and make the game more engaging. They would spend the rest of each session completing a tutorial in Scratch to learn about sequencing, events, and behaviors and how the coding tool works. For example, one session they learned how to make objects appear as though they are flying and another session they focused on how to make a game have different variables, such as a timer and a scoreboard using Scratch. 

Learn more about Girl Hack (and other DLL Programs) is doing this year by reading our blog!