Coding Girls & Women at the University of Milan
Year 3 pupils from the Via Moisè Loria comprehensive school spent the morning of Friday 15 May at the University of Milan-Bicocca, at the end of a pilot programme involving the University and eight Year 3 and 4 classes from the primary school.
They were welcomed by Prof. Fulvia Mecatti, lecturer in Statistics at the Department of Sociology and Social Research at UniMIB, together with Gaia Siano and Stefano O. Wahor, interns in Statistics and Information Management, and Giulia V. Arango Ataucusi, an intern in Sociology.
For many of the children, this was their first opportunity to step inside a university and experience at first hand an environment often perceived as distant. The visit thus became a moment of discovery, curiosity and imagination, allowing the pupils to explore spaces, lecture theatres and learning methods different from those of primary school. Using simple and engaging language, Prof. Mecatti took the children on a short tour of the University, explaining how university life unfolds, what subjects are studied and how older students experience the University’s spaces on a daily basis.
Throughout the tour, the children showed great enthusiasm and engagement, asking questions, observing the surroundings closely and encountering a new reality that stimulated their curiosity and desire to learn.
At the end of the tour, the students were welcomed to the Pagani lecture theatre in the U6 building by Prof. Ida Castiglioni, lecturer in Sociology of Cultural and Communication Processes at the Department of Sociology and Social Research at UniMIB and head of the Department’s Fourth Mission.
The children also had the opportunity to present some of the projects they had completed during the course, the result of activities developed using the Bee-Bot, Scratch and Spike methodologies. This was a particularly significant moment, allowing the students to describe the work they had done, share ideas and experiments, and engage with a university setting that valued creativity, collaboration and digital skills.
The morning concluded with a lively question-and-answer session during which Prof. Mecatti made herself available to answer the students’ numerous queries, transforming the meeting into an opportunity for dialogue and open discussion. An engaging experience that allowed the children to approach the university world in a concrete and natural way, enjoying a day of discovery, guidance and growth.
