Alice Brooks and Bettina Chen founded Roominate in 2012 to inspire young girls to explore the STEM fields. The two met while pursuing masters degrees in engineering at Stanford, where they united behind a common goal to invigorate the next generation of female engineers by engaging them through play.
In the US, less than 15% of women enter college intending to major in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) field. Alice and Bettina believe the gender gap starts young. Many girls’ toys lag behind in the development of spatial skills, hands-on problem solving skills, and confidence with technology. These are exactly the skills that Roominate aims to develop.
Roominate’s unique blend of building, circuits, design, crafts, storytelling, and creativity teaches kids while they play. Using motor and light circuits, modular furniture building pieces and walls, Roominate empowers kids to build endless amazing creations!
Roominate teaches:
Hands-On Problem Solving
Spatial + Fine Motor Skills
Self-Confidence
Creativity
Basic Circuitry
The pair did an extensive interview with Huffington Post. Check it out here!
How is Roominate making a real difference in the STEM community?
Roominate is opening up more possibilities for girls. With Roominate, we are challenging girls to do things that they can’t with their other toys: build, wire up circuits, and be inventive–all at the same time! By being completely open-ended, Roominate empowers girls to create and tell their own stories.
Roominate also helps develop skills that are crucial not only for STEM success, but for any career choice. Girls are learning creative and logical problem solving, developing spatial reasoning, and building up their self-confidence. Most importantly, girls are beginning to realize their potential and seeing that they can accomplish anything.
October 14th is Ada Lovelace Day! Today the world celebrates all of the accomplishments of women in science, art, design, technology, engineering, and math. Each year, Adafruit highlights a number of women who are pioneering their fields and inspiring women of all ages to make their voices heard. Today we will be sharing the stories of women that we think are modern day “Adas”. We will also be referencing women from history that have made impacts in science and math. Please promote and share #ALD14 with your friends and family so we can promote and share with all of the world wide web!
Today everything in the Adafruit store is 10% off, just use the code ALD14 on checkout! Today’s the perfect day to spark the imagination of a future “Ada” with a gift from the Adafruit store!
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: The latest on Raspberry Pi RP2350-E9, Bluetooth 6, 4,000 Stars and more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
October 14th is Ada Lovelace Day! Today the world celebrates all of the accomplishments of women in science, art, design, technology, engineering, and math. Each year, Adafruit highlights a number of women who are pioneering their fields and inspiring women of all ages to make their voices heard. Today we will be sharing the stories of women that we think are modern day “Adas”. We will also be referencing women from history that have made impacts in science and math. Please promote and share #ALD14 with your friends and family so we can promote and share with all of the world wide web!