Barbie® Adds New STEM Career To Her Resume
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., June 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — (NASDAQ: MAT) — Today, the Barbie® brand launches Robotics Engineer Barbie, a doll designed to pique girls’ interest in STEM and shine a light on an underrepresented career field for women. This new doll joins a lineup of more than 200 careers held by Barbie, all of which reinforce the brand’s purpose to inspire the limitless potential in every girl.
With only 24 percent of STEM jobs held by women*, the Barbie brand is not only encouraging girls to explore STEM through imaginative play with the doll, but also learn real coding skills. As part of a multi-year partnership with Tynker, the number one game-based platform that has helped more than 60 million kids learn to code, Mattel is launching six free Barbie-inspired coding experiences available starting today at tynker.com/BarbieYCBA. These lessons are designed to teach logic, problem-solving and the building blocks of coding while casting young learners in different roles alongside Barbie. By leveraging Mattel’s strong portfolio of brands, this ongoing collaboration reinforces Tynker’s mission of making coding and STEM education accessible and appealing to all students by meeting them where their interests lie and providing them with the foundational tools they need to learn to code.
“For almost 60 years, Barbie has exposed girls to roles where women are underrepresented to show them that they can be anything,” said Lisa McKnight, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Barbie. “By playing with Robotics Engineer Barbie on and offline, we are giving girls a new platform for play in their imaginary world and teaching them important skills for their real world.”
This is not the first time Barbie has explored STEM – since 1959, Barbie has held STEM roles including astronaut, scientist, video game developer and computer engineer. The brand also partners with experts in the field to ensure these dolls are an authentic representation of the profession and coding skills.
“Our mission is to empower youth to become the makers of tomorrow through coding, and the Barbie brand is an ideal partner to help us introduce programming to a large number of kids in a fun, engaging way,” said Krishna Vedati, co-founder and CEO, Tynker. “It’s critical that all young learners have an opportunity to explore the possibilities available in STEM fields, and Tynker’s Barbie programming experience is a valuable tool to introduce kids of all ages to these concepts while building their coding skills.”
To further pique girls’ interest in STEM and expand on storytelling possibilities, the Barbie brand is also:
- Partnering with Black Girls CODE – providing a grant of support to Black Girls CODE and gifting dolls at robotics workshops to reach young girls interested in developing skills in the field.
- Debuting more Tynker coding content – continuing its multi-year partnership with Tynker to introduce seven lessons throughout the year and again timed to Hour of Code in December.
- Releasing a Coding e–book – in collaboration with Information Science Professor and Coder Casey Fiesler, PhD, Barbie is releasing Code Camp for Barbie and Friends. The e-book is a kid-friendly introduction to the concepts of code and will be available for sale on Amazon.com.
The launch of Robotics Engineer Barbie is another example of how the Barbie brand is dedicated to highlighting #MoreRoleModels to show girls they can be anything. A new video, launching today, highlights career fields underrepresented by women with a call-to-action to inspire the next generation of girls.
Robotics Engineer Barbie is available today in four skin tones for $13.99 on Barbie.com and Amazon.com. For more information on Tynker and the larger program, please visit www.barbie.com/coding.
*Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.
About Mattel
Mattel is a global learning, development and play company that inspires the next generation of kids to shape a brighter tomorrow. Through our portfolio of iconic consumer brands, including American Girl®, Barbie®, Fisher-Price®, Hot Wheels® and Thomas & Friends™, we create systems of play, content and experiences that help kids unlock their full potential. Mattel also creates inspiring and innovative products in collaboration with leading entertainment and technology companies as well as other partners. With a global workforce of approximately 32,000 people, Mattel operates in 40 countries and territories and sells products in more than 150 nations. Visit us online at www.mattel.com.
About Tynker
Tynker’s award-winning creative computing platform helps children develop computational thinking and programming skills in a fun, intuitive, and imaginative way. The platform is used by one in three U.S. schools and over 60 million kids, spanning over 150 countries. Tynker was founded by a seasoned team of technology entrepreneurs who share a passion for giving children the critical life skills needed to become leaders in the technologies of tomorrow. Global partners include brands such as Apple, Microsoft, Mattel, PBS, Sylvan Learning, and more. For more information, please visit www.tynker.com, like us on Facebook (facebook.com/GoTynker), and follow us on Twitter @GoTynker.
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