This week saw the emergence of the first International UN Day of the Girl Child, which is intended to promote the empowerment of young girls around the world. One obvious way to do this is to encourage their access to education. Because of this, we thought it was only fitting to celebrate the development of a toy that is meant to promote the education of girls and more specifically, their learning in science and math.
Debbie Sterling was discouraged by the stereotypes that suggested that boys should play with Bob the Builder while girls were left to dress up Barbie. With 89% of male engineers in her program at Stanford, it was obvious that there was a gender gap in the field. But more notably, Sterling was aware that there was a significant gap in the formative space of play. Because of this, she was motivated to spend a year of research with over 100 children in order to develop GoldieBlox: a construction toy for girls.GoldieBlox has just launched its interactive book and construction toy series that combines storytelling and building in a novel approach to encourage girls to play with construction toys.
The book and toy series stars "Goldie Blox," the girl engineer character who builds simple machines to solve problems and help her friends. It introduces new engineering principles with each story, including lessons around wheels and axles, pulleys, force and friction.
The first book and toy in the series, "Goldie Blox and the Spinning Machine", is perfect for ages 5-9 and retails for $30. The expected delivery date is February 2013.
Since GoldieBlox met its original Kickstarter targets, Sterling has expanded the campaign to include two additional stories and characters.
To support the growth of GoldieBlox and inspire the next generation of female engineers, you can check out their campaign that closes on October 18.
Many of us armed with tools and skills have, at some point, seen something we wanted to buy—then decided we'd rather build it ourselves, either to save money or for the fun of it. So, here's a sticky question: With design piracy being such a hot-button issue, how do you...
Last month we looked at neon light artist David Ablon and briefly mentioned Brooklyn Glass, the outerborough studio Ablon co-founded. The 4,000-square-foot facility boasts two furnaces and multiple shop areas, where everyone from experienced glassblowers to newbies taking their first class work the material. Now there's a new video showing...
If you're checking out grad schools for next September, be sure to take a look at the MFA Products of Design program at SVA. Chaired by Core77's Allan Chochinov, the department will welcome guests to its Information Session/Open House on Saturday, November 10th, from 11am to 1pm. Meet faculty and...
Create a Core77 Account
Already have an account? Sign In
By creating a Core77 account you confirm that you accept the Terms of Use
Please enter your email and we will send an email to reset your password.