That\u2019s the challenge Kate Miller presented to a group of middle schoolers during last summer\u2019s Penn Girls in Engineering, Math & Science Camp<\/a> (GEMS) at the University of Pennsylvania, where Miller is a sophomore bioengineering major.<\/p>\n Using Kodu<\/a>, a visual programming language from Microsoft Research that makes it easy for students to create games, characters, and landscapes, the girls quickly dived into the task of creating a physical environment that drew on their shared interest in popular culture.<\/p>\n Kate Miller (left) and students attending the Penn Girls in Engineering, Math & Science Camp had a lot of fun using Kodu to program.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cThey were able to show it off to their friends,\u201d Miller recalls. \u201cIt worked out perfectly\u2014they were very excited about it. It became competitive, and it was just electric.\u201d<\/p>\n Miller is a 2012 winner of the AspireIT award, funded by Microsoft Research, from the National Center for Women & Information Technology. Miller used her $5,000 grant award to create the programming course for GEMS and to buy several Surface<\/a> tablets for the camp. The Xbox<\/a> team donated additional tablets\u2014facilitated by Kent Foster, who drives academic relationships for that team\u2014so each student could have one to use.<\/p>\n The kind of excitement that Miller generated during the camp is exactly the goal of Hour of Code<\/a>, a global initiative organized by the nonprofit Code.org<\/a> to promote computer-science education, particularly among K-12 students. Timed to coincide with Computer Science Education Week<\/a>, December 9-15, Hour of Code encourages an hour of instruction in computer science to demystify computer programming and to spread awareness that computer science can be the foundation of many creative, exciting careers.<\/p>\n Three tools from Microsoft Research\u2014Kodu, TouchDevelop<\/a>, and .NET Gadgeteer<\/a>\u2014will be an integral part of Hour of Code. Microsoft is a supporter of Code.org.<\/p>\n Miller has been teaching and mentoring girls since her senior year of high school, when she created an afterschool science and technology club for middle school girls in New Albany, Ohio. It was a way to spread her passion for programming, which was sparked almost accidentally when she registered for an introductory robotics course because she wanted to be in a class with her best friend.<\/p>\n The programming she learned, using the LEGO Mindstorms system, was basic, but it helped build her confidence.<\/p>\n \u201cI got hooked on the fact that I could make things and approach a problem one step at a time,\u201d Miller says. \u201cThat\u2019s really all programming is\u2014arranging the tools that you have to solve the problem that you\u2019re facing.\u201d<\/p>\n Miller proceeded to take AP Computer Science and was the first girl in her high school to complete the course. Having enjoyed steadfast support from her programming teacher, David Herman, \u201cwho\u2019s been a consistent, fantastic mentor to me,\u201d she immediately thought of becoming a mentor herself.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a little sister,\u201d she says, \u201cand I wanted her to experience the same pride in overcoming something for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n The club Miller created in her hometown is not only going strong, but also is being run in partnership with Ohio State University.<\/p>\n The challenge, Miller says, is that media stereotypes about science and technology professions discourage many girls from exploring those fields. And girls who do forge ahead often have few female role models to encourage and support them.<\/p>\n She intends to help remedy that situation by continuing to teach and mentor girls, whatever her own eventual career path.<\/p>\n \u201cReaching out and sharing the passion that changed my life so dramatically\u2014I think that\u2019s going to be a lifelong thing,\u201d she says. \u201cI really enjoy it, and I think the tools for teaching computer science and engineering get more exciting every day.\u201d<\/p>\n Among the tools for teaching programming to students, \u201cKodu is by far my favorite,\u201d Miller says. \u201cI was really excited about using Kodu because I kind of grew up playing on my Xbox\u2014I grew up learning stories through video games.\u201d<\/p>\n Kodu enables users to tell stories through games and share those stories with others on the Kodu Game Lab Community<\/a> website and on Socl<\/a>, a free online social community created by Microsoft Research\u2019s FUSE Labs<\/a> that celebrates creative expression through visually rich posts.<\/p>\n Students find programming with Kodu an engrossing experience.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cFor me, it\u2019s particularly inspiring to see girls getting into Kodu,\u201d says FUSE Labs program manager Reena Kawal.\u00a0\u201cDuring a DigiGirlz camp we held, the girls created a bunch of games like Cat Daddy<\/em> and Cycle Psycho<\/em>, which we\u2019ve featured in a collection on Socl. It\u2019s awesome to see what they\u2019ve come up with.\u201d<\/p>\n Kodu comes with 20 characters that have various abilities, and it includes landscape-creation tools that make it easy to create beautiful environments, with bridges, paths, and various types of terrain.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Kodu, users have the tools to\u00a0create their own worlds and fill them with characters whose behaviors\u00a0they define through\u00a0a\u00a0custom, visual programming language,\u201d says Stephen Coy, one of the developers of Kodu. \u201cStudents are able to unleash their imaginations while at the same time learning basic computer-science concepts.\u201d<\/p>\n Kodu for the PC is a free download for the Windows desktop or Windows 8, and Kodu for Xbox costs only about $5. The Xbox version uses the game controller for input\u2014no keyboard required. Kodu can be taught by teachers with no previous programming experience. Lesson plans and activities are available for free on the Kodu site.<\/p>\n Scott Fintel of the Xbox team says Kodu helps build students\u2019 confidence in their technical abilities, to the point where some of them surpass the teacher\u2019s abilities and take a teaching role within the class.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving students thrive in this leadership role builds collaboration not only between students and their peers, but with their teachers, as well,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s a powerful dynamic to see, and the response from teachers has been overwhelmingly positive.\u201d<\/p>\n Microsoft Research\u2019s commitment to exposing more people to the creative possibilities of technology extends to other tools, including TouchDevelop, which lets you create mobile apps and games<\/a> on any smartphone, tablet, or PC.<\/p>\n You can write scripts simply by tapping on the screen, and you can share your scripts on the TouchDevelop website or submit them to the Windows Store or the Windows Phone Store<\/a>. More than 50,000 scripts created with TouchDevelop have been published.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone who has a smartphone or tablet should be able to create apps\u2014that is the vision behind TouchDevelop,\u201d says Nikolai Tillmann<\/a>, who founded the project. \u201cThe result is a new way to program that is more approachable than ever while being more powerful at the same time.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are seeing people of all ages pick it up, men and women, with and without any previous programming experience. That\u2019s our vision of democratizing programming.\u201d<\/p>\n TouchDevelop is being used in classrooms around the globe, from high schools in the United States to universities in India and Australia. The TouchDevelop website offers free resources to instructors, including curricular and video tutorials.<\/p>\n TouchDevelop runs on the iPad, iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, Windows, Linux, and Mac.<\/p>\n For the ultimate in hands-on learning, Microsoft offers .NET Gadgeteer, a rapid prototyping platform<\/a> for small electronic devices and gadgets. Created by engineers at Microsoft Research as an internal\u00a0prototyping tool, it is now a free, open-source tool kit that can be used with an array of easy-to-attach hardware modules from third-party manufacturers.<\/p>\n Users with little or no electronics background easily can connect individual modules\u2014such as ones for displaying images, playing sounds, taking pictures, or enabling user interaction\u2014to a mainboard with a 32-bit processor to create devices that are remarkably sophisticated. Programming is done in Visual Studio<\/a> using C#.<\/p>\n The .NET Gadgeteer site includes ideas, projects, and product information for every level of user, from hobbyist to professional engineer. A special section for educators offers resources for getting students 12 and older involved in programming, electronics, and design.<\/p>\n User-generated projects featured on the .NET Gadgeteer site include a tweet printer that downloads and prints a user\u2019s Twitter feed, a flipbook maker for making stop-action animations, and a pulse-oximeter web service that records your pulse and blood oxygenation.<\/p>\n Microsoft Research has created Kodu and TouchDevelop tutorials for Hour of Code events, which range from afterschool lessons to coding events at college fraternities and sororities, PTA-sponsored holiday parties where students create interactive holiday cards, and drop-in events at community centers with food and prizes.<\/p>\n Nearly 29,000 events are planned in 160 countries and will reach an estimated 4 million people.<\/p>\n![\"Penn](\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Penn-Girls-in-Engineering-Math-Science-Camp.jpg\")
Hooked on Programming<\/h2>\n
Building and Sharing Games with Kodu<\/h2>\n
![\"programming](\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/programming-with-Kodu.jpg\")
Creating Apps with TouchDevelop<\/h2>\n
.NET Gadgeteer<\/h2>\n
Hour of Code<\/h2>\n