Inspiring Young Minds: My Experience Talking About Women in STEM to Kindergarten Kids

Something happened yesterday that I wanted to share with you all…

I recently volunteered to give a talk about women in STEM for the celebration of International Women’s Day at my daughter’s school. My audience was 16 children, aged from 3 and a half to 5. I needed to speak up to be a role model for my daughter and other young girls out there. My goal was not to get them to learn to code but to be curious about it and maybe even try it themselves.

One thing that I love about coding is that it will help us to be creative. I am also teaching my daughter, Devi, coding at home. I know that “creativity” is the skill that she needs for life to navigate this changing world. 

During the presentation, I threw a problem to these young kids to solve - Help the mouse get the cheese. I was amazed by the wide range of ideas that they threw at me. One child brought the cheese to the mouse, and I was laughing so hard because I had never thought of that idea! 

If you don’t have a background in coding but you still want your children to be creative, you can send them to a coding school or you can even use other methods: such as drawing, painting, dancing, playing outdoors, giving them autonomy in their schedule, and asking them lots of “what if” questions. 

At the end of the presentation, one boy came to me and asked: “Hey Devi’s mom, can you come to school every day?” And one girl said: “Bye Devi’s mom, see you again tomorrow”. These kids brought such colour into my life!

Have you ever spoken in front of a group of children?

Or have you ever gone to present at your child’s school? 

What was your experience? 

Let me know in the comments below!