STILL ACTIVE
HK Unicorn Squad is a private initiative providing technology knowledge and skills exclusively for girls. The team around founders Taavi and Kerstin Kotka and leader Liis Koser worked out a 3-year programme through which girls can acquire fundamental knowledge in programming, robotics, engineering, physics, electronics, and more. They solve fun and exciting tasks within girls-only groups.
It is widely known that women are underrepresented in technology; according to Eurostat, only 18.9% of European ICT specialists are female. Even though girls are just as clever and intelligent as boys, they are still apprehensive about this field. Through their activities, HK Unicorn Squad alleviates this fear and demonstrates that technology and science are not something to be afraid of but can be enjoyable and fun.
The process is straightforward. HK Unicorn Squad offers free educational kits to anyone who wishes to implement a Unicorn Squad programme for girls in their local area or school. Lessons are packed into boxes with all the necessary equipment for conducting the classes, including physical materials, instructions and (video)guides for the local instructors. These kits are sent to groups all over Estonia via local parcel machines. All kits are reusable, so after the lesson, the instructor or group leader sends the materials back to the Unicorn Squad team or passes them on to the next group, as instructed by their logistics department. HK Unicorn Squad can accommodate about 800 to 900 new girls each year, but interest has been growing so much that the waiting list to join the programme has already reached almost a year.
The long-term goal is to integrate the Unicorn Squad programme into the formal school curricula so that contemporary technology education becomes a regular part of the learning process and all children can participate in these exciting and essential lessons. For this purpose, HK Unicorn Squad collaborates with other science education initiatives and schools in Estonia, primarily in developing educational content. They recently started a collaboration with the Tallinn University of Technology to develop a programme for high school girls.
From 17 girls who participated in the programme in 2018, they have reached 3,000 girls by 2023.
In the summer of 2023, HK Unicorn Squad organised a 3-day summer camp with 700 participants, where girls from different groups across Estonia came together to solve various programming, physics, robotics, and teamwork tasks.
Successfully conducted a year-long pilot project to integrate the programme into school curricula.
Collaboration with Tallinn University of Technology to develop a programme for high school girls.
Helen Saluveer, Communication Manager, helen@teadusstuudiod.ee