Activities to support more girls into careers linked to computer science

19 January 2024

Computer science opens doors to a vast number of rewarding careers in tech, engineering, healthcare, management, programming and many more. We have highlighted some of the enrichment activities that can help you interest more girls in the subject of computing and support their future career choices.  

These are recommended activities from I Belong: encouraging girls into computer science and showcasing the implementation of one of the activities below can help your school to complete the certificate. 

Develop girls’ enthusiasm and self-belief in their computing-related skills. Sign up or tell us about your journey (if already participating) in these exciting competitions:  

  • CanSat UK, where students gain practical experience working on a small-scale space project – designing a can-sized satellite!  
  • Bebras, where students are introduced to computational thinking and connects young people all over the world. Tell us about your participation this year or sign up for the next challenge on 4 - 15 November 2024. 

Do you run a coding, robotics or other computing-related after-school or lunchtime club? Tell us about it and how you are involving female students in the activity. Access these STEM Clubs resources in your activities: 

  • How can we live smarter? – students are tasked with designing an app that incentivises recycling by allowing households to log how much they are recycling each week 
  • How could we augment ourselves? – students can create a ‘bionic hand’ incorporating a Crumble or micro:bit 

Bring your lesson to life with a Computing Ambassador

All part of the wider STEM Ambassadors scheme, these volunteers can host a career talk, help to contextualise the curriculum, or support your extracurricular club. With Safer Internet Day coming up, it's the perfect time to request an activity to provide real-world contexts for your students – there are over 500 offers live on the platform for you to explore.

Find out more and use the guidance on browsing offers here.  

Run an enrichment activity in your classroom, ensuring girls’ participation

Our recommended enrichment activities can help you spart that interest for computing and computer science among the female students.  

  • Get involved in the 2024 Apps for Good Showcase to design and code an app to solve a real-world problem, where our students’ idea can then be submitted to a diverse range of industry experts to celebrate UK’s young people's tech innovation skills.  
  • Check out the Cisco Cyber Camps that equip, inspire, and empower girls and non-binary students through this industry-aligned cybersecurity course by Cisco in partnership with Open University.  
  • Participate in the FIRST® LEGO® League – a global STEM programme where young people work together to explore a given topic and to design, build and program an autonomous LEGO® robot to solve a series of missions. 

What next?

Once you've planned and delivered two or more of these units, share your reflections on how the delivery was gender-responsive and the impact it had.

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Not signed up to the programme?

By enrolling on the programme, you will gain the tools and guidance to support more girls into computer science qualifications and careers. Our activities are selected based on research and evidence around what can contribute to increasing girls’ uptake of computer science.

Sign up today