The Latest From Code Savvy

Our newsletters highlight a variety of people, organizations, and resources that are doing work to broaden participation and expand equitable and engaging computer science and STEM opportunities. We are honored to work in this space along with so many talented and passionate individuals and want to help bring attention to their work.

Spotlight on Women’s History!

For our post this week, we wanted to share one more spotlight focusing on the next generation of Women History Makers.

This week’s focus is “Next Generation of Women History Makers”

Even though Women’s History Month has come to a close for this year, we wanted to shine another spotlight on another young history maker.

Dasia Taylor is a high school student from Iowa whose love for science has led to inventions with the power to help others. Dasia became interested in competing in state-wide science competitions, and her work began to focus on solving the problem of infection in surgical wounds. She learned about “smart sutures” that were conductive and could communicate with smart phones to indicate when an infection is present, but wondered about people living in less developed countries where smart phone and internet access is less prevalent. Her research led to a breakthrough innovation based on a common vegetable: the beet.

Through her work, Dasia found that beets are natural indicators, and change color at the perfect PH level to indicate when an infection is present in a wound. This helped her to create sutures dyed with beet extract that will change color to indicate the presence of infection without the need for technology and the internet. Her sutures have the potential to save many lives, as the World Health Association estimates the infection rate for surgical wounds in less developed countries is around 11%. Her work has also earned her a spot as a top 40 finalist for the Regeneron Science Talent Search, a nation-wide science and math competition for high school students.

You can read more about Dasia’s research and work here, or watch a brief video of her explaining her project here.

What problems are you able to solve with your design thinking and coding skills. Identify a problem, brainstorm solutions, then start to try one out! Could you use a micro:bit to build a working prototype of your idea? Or build a simulation of it in Scratch to show how it would work. Be sure to share whatever you come up with!

share your CS to Go projects!

How to Share: We invite CS to Go with Code Savvy participants to consider sharing your projects publicly with the Code Savvy and greater #MNCodes community via video with Flipgrid. We can’t wait to see what you create! Please be sure to follow online safety guidelines and get adult permission before sharing. You can find our Privacy Policy here.

Catch Up on Past Weeks’ CS to Go and Bytes of Inspiration Videos

CS to Go and Bytes of Inspiration with Code Savvy are our response to the current health crisis — Code Savvy’s programs have come together to share weekly youth- and educator-centered videos that focus on creating new things with computer science. You can find all CS to Go and Bytes of Inspiration videos under Distance Learning on our website!

Other Happenings

Code Savvy’s MNCodes Educator Training Program and Opportunities

Scholarships Available for CSTA 2021

Each summer the Computer Science Teacher’s Association hosts a large nation-wide conference. This year will be virtual, and CSTA is offering scholarships that subsidize 100% of the program cost to support teachers whose limited financial resources may prevent them from attending. Learn more about our scholarship opportunity and apply by April 30. Read more about scholarships here.

CS Integration Curriculum Showcase

As part of the MNCodes Cohort, educators are asked to create lessons that integrate computer science with another curricular content area such as literacy, math, science, or others, and align to both CSTA and MN Academic Standards. We will use this space to regularly showcase various curriculum resources that have been created by current or former MNCodes Cohort members.

Robotics in Middle School

Want to help your middle school students get introduced to robotics and problem solving skills? This project uses the Edison robot for 6th graders. Check out the lesson resources here. To see other projects that integrate CS into core content areas, you can browse our database on the MNCodes website.

Coffee + CS Ed Zoom Call

Looking for more ways to connect with other educators interested in CS Ed? Or do you have ideas to share, questions or want to try out a resource in the company of other K12 CS Educators? Check out Coffee + CSEd Chats – every Friday at 8am, CT. Anyone is welcome to join! Details and Zoom info can be found here.

Technovation[MN]

This year, Technovation[MN] will be hosting Appapalooza as a LIVE Virtual event. Different from previous years, the winners at Appapalooza will not automatically advance, however, we do want to gather, with friends and families, to celebrate the outstanding work of the girls in Minnesota. We hope you will join us as a judge for the live pitch session of Appapalooza 2021.

Find out more and register here!

CoderDojos

Our winter/spring schedule is now available here. Our next virtual event is this Saturday, April 10! – Register Here. Hope to see many of you there. Sign up for email notices – CodeDojoTC and Rebecca CoderDojo.

MN Cup Applications Open

Minnesota Cup (MN Cup) is kicking off its 17th season! Applications for the 2021 competition are open from March 15 – April 16. MN Cup connects current and aspiring Minnesota entrepreneurs to education, mentorship, seed capital, and the broader community.

Find out more and apply here!

More Code Savvy

About Code Savvy

Code Savvy empowers youth and educators with the knowledge, skills, and support to create with technology while interrupting and counteracting gender, racial, and socioeconomic gaps in computing. We create opportunities for hands-on computer science learning that inspires learners to transform the future.

Visit our website to learn more →