HCI with chocolate: Introducing HCI concepts to Brazilian girls in elementary school

Abstract

In order to attract women to the area of computing there are several initiatives in the Brazilian context. The project named Meninas Digitais (Digital Girls) is one of them. In this paper we discuss one experiment carried out in the context of this project. A Computer Science Unplugged activity (The Chocolate Factory) was performed in a Brazilian state school. The activity was about HCI design and was done with nine teenagers. Most of these girls do not have a computer, so they rarely use one. The experiment was their first contact with a topic related to concepts of HCI design, and the girls succeeded in the activity giving interesting solutions for the problem situations presented. The experiment showed that it is possible to introduce some activities to elementary school students so as to present HCI and promote courses in the area of Computing. © 2013 Springer International Publishing.