On the heels of the Boy Scouts introducing a merit badge for game design, the Girl Scouts are going one better by developing a badge program to bring girls into the world of video game development. The effort is a collaboration between Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles and Women in Games International.
According to a report by Girl Gamer, the two organizations are developing an education program designed specifically for the Girl Scouts that meets the organization's requirements for skills badges. "Creating this badge will get young girls excited in technology and science and let them know that they, too, can have a career in the video game industry," WIGI Vice President Amy Allison told Girl Gamer.
Currently, the Girl Scouts of the USA offers four official badges in the area of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education—"Science of Happiness" and "Science of Style" badges being the only ones for older scouts. The Boy Scouts introduced a Game Design merit badge in March, but its description doesn't specifically call for actual game software development. The WIGI-GSLA effort will use Gamestar Mechanic, an educational development tool from E-Line Media, to allow scouts to develop and create their own video games.
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