Blogs

The 2018 GirlsTech summer course at the American Space

Summer course designed and conducted by Marie Monique Schaper and Laura Malinverni. American Space - Ignasi Iglesias Library, July 2018

The main objective of this Summer Camp was to introduce students to the basic concepts of design thinking, augmented reality and digital fabrication. The participants were able to create their own digital narratives based on an imaginary world behind the books of the Library Ignasi Iglésias – Can Fabra. They co-created physical objects and audiovisual content using different tools (Scratch, Tinkercad, HP Reveal)  and  technologies (touch board, Arduino, Makey Makey, 3D printing and tablets). During this two-week intensive course at the American Space Barcelona, 20 girls were involved in the different phases of the co-creation of a project: brainstorming, storyboarding, rapid and advanced prototyping of objects in 3D format and audiovisual content. The result of the course were different group projects that merged the physical and augmented world of their favourite story books in the library. The trainers were two female researchers at UPF’s Department of Information and Communication Technologies.

The participating girls showed a high engagement during the activities and succeeded in translating their own ideas into innovative technology solutions. For instance, one group chose to present their interpretations around the book “El Mundo al Reves” written by Ángel Padilla. The fictional story describes a world in which the animals dominate the humans. The participating girls modeled the book title with the browser-based 3D design and modeling tool Tinkercad and printed the letters in 3D. They also co-created an interactive prototype of the world. Therefore, they programmed the behaviour of LEDs with Arduino and augmented the characters with voices and sounds using Makey Makey.

 

Another group worked on their interpretations of the famous book “Alice in Wonderland”. They created a scenario of Alice’s world and modeled three objects, a clock, a hat and playing cards, and printed them in 3D. The clock was augmented with a “ticking” sound using Scratch and Makey Makey. They programmed the turning movement of the hat using a servo motor and Arduino. Finally, the playing cards were hidden in a box and were only visible to the observer through a small hole, the entrance to Alice’s world. The popular Cheshire Cat was brought to life using the augmented reality tool HP Reveal and a tablet.

On the last day of each summer camp, we invited the parents to give the participating girls the opportunity to present the outcomes of their work. We believe that these events are as much important as the workshops itself. The presentations make parents aware of what their daughters are capable of, increase their interest in promoting technology related activities for their children and simulate reflections upon their own values related to gender stereotypes.