wITches

wITches operates in the Czech Republic, where the school curriculum does not include programming or robotics and physics classes emphasise theory over practical application. Female representation among students at the Czech Technical University has fluctuated around only 11-13% over the past 15 years, and children from families without a technical background, strong maths/physics knowledge, or an engaged elementary-school teacher find it especially hard to access a technical environment growing up.

The project aims to broaden the horizons of children aged 10-15 in programming, electronics and robotics through a fun, practical approach rather than pure theory, in the hope that positive early exposure will encourage more students to pursue engineering degrees. A second, parallel goal is to gather and support women within the Faculty of Electrical Engineering itself.

wITches is run entirely by a female student group that grew from four founders to 16 students across three university programmes, teaching younger children through hands-on tools such as LEGO robots, Boffin electronics kits, Micro:bit, and simple game programming in Scratch. In 2019 the group ran workshops using these tools as well as sessions at children's homes, and it takes part in public outreach events such as Makers Faire, Science Fair and Museum Night.

The project is funded through the support of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University and reports having conducted an evaluation, though no evaluation methodology or findings are described in the available material. The organisers' core belief -- that practical, enjoyable early exposure to STEM will increase the number of students later applying for engineering degrees -- remains an underlying hypothesis rather than a measured outcome.