As Techbridge Girls celebrates 25 years of connecting girls to STEM opportunities, we’re excited to share our vision for the next era.
Since 2000, Techbridge Girls has prepared students to engage with emerging technology, from space exploration to social media and everything in between. In that time, we’ve seen our technology and our culture evolve in many different directions. In 2000, most of us didn’t have cell phones, let alone a search engine at our fingertips. Today, we can type “major technological advances since 2000” into ChatGPT and get a comprehensive history, commentary, and illustrations. Even if the facts need double-checking (and they do!), it’s an extraordinary new reality.
And since 2000, we’ve continuously refined our programs so that we’re offering our youth and educators the resources and information they need, when they need it. Techbridge Girls programs are exactly what they sound like: bridges connecting girls and technology. That’s why this year, we’re turning our focus to the current game-changers in STEM: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science.
Even a year ago, we were talking about AI as the future. But for the girls we’re reaching today, it’s the present. We are now teaching the first AI native generation. But to help artificial intelligence benefit all of us, we need human intelligence. The students we reach, along with their educators, don’t just need to know how to use AI. They need to understand how to make it.
Data Science is an important building block of AI, and it’s much more than that, too. Data Science involves critical thinking, communication, visual design, and more. It involves paying deep attention to the patterns of our lives and of the world around us.
By centering our curriculum around AI and Data Science, we’ll prepare the next generation with concepts, tools, and critical thinking skills to be not just bystanders in the AI revolution, but builders of it. Together, we’ll be working through the questions of our moment: What solutions can AI offer? How do we use our human intelligence to make artificial intelligence better and unbiased? What are the human and environmental costs of AI, and how can we address those costs? What careers are emerging in these fields, and what skills do those careers require? What opportunities does this technology offer that we haven’t dreamt of yet?
As we launch our new strategic plan, look for three key elements:
- New curriculum materials with AI, and Data Science content informed by experts in these fields
- A keystone event that brings students and educators together to explore new concepts and ideas and to celebrate learning and collaboration
- New teaching tools, including customized, on-demand training in relevant content using AI tools
The skills that our girls will learn aren’t limited to any one field. Rather, they’re essential skills for navigating a landscape that is changing around us. Over 25 years, we’ve seen new technologies reshape our culture. We’ve also seen that the real game-changers are human: human intelligence, human curiosity, human joy, and human relationships. By creating welcoming spaces for STEM learning for all of our young humans, we’re making a better future for all of us.
Over the next few months, we’ll be sharing more thoughts on AI and data science and interviewing some of the top women leaders in these fields. The future is here. Let’s explore it together.