Girl Scouts Game Design Badge
“On my honor, I will try…” If you’ve ever worn a Daisy, Brownie or Girl Scout uniform then you know how serious it is to grab up a sash filled with merit badges.
The Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles have introduced a Game Design merit badge to help encourage its members to get interested in a variety of science and technology fields. The L.A. Girl Scouts chapter partnered with the Women in Games International (WIGI) organization to create a curriculum for the patch. Girls will be required to program their games as well as design them, using software called Gamestar Mechanic.
Girl Scouts Game Design Badge Girl Scouts Game Design Badge Girl Scouts Game Design Badge
The Girl Scouts Game Design Badge hasn’t been approved by the national organization yet, thus it is only available to Girl Scouts in the Los Angeles chapter. According to NBC News, it’s designed for girls in 4th to 6th grade.
“Fostering interest in technology and video game development in females of all ages … is the main inspiration for working towards a national badge,” – Sheri Rubin, president and CEO of Design, Direct, Deliver and a member of WIGI
Here’s what the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles new patch to award for video game development looks like. (It really doesn’t represent gaming and programming as much as the Boy Scouts Of America’s gaming merit badge, but I digress…)
The games industry has recently been more aware of the gender discrepancies in its ranks. A few months ago game creators took to hashtag #1reasonwhy to talk about reasons the industry doesn’t employ enough women, uncovering issues like sexism in some workplaces. A game design merit badge could certainly be one way to get more young women interested in programming and creating games, like GambleCity, as a career.
Do you think being able to earn a merit badge will encourage interest in programming early on? How would you encourage young girls to explore the possibilities of a programming or gaming career?
via Mashable
