Experiential learning, or using activities such as simulations, helps people glean lessons on their own rather than having that knowledge presented to them. Activities need not be lengthy to be effective. In fact, simple exercises can help a team understand the complexities of software development.

There has been a strong push to make teaching students how to program part of the academic requirements in public schools, with a legislative push to have coding replace foreign language requirements and cursive. However, maybe we should focus on adding knowledge—not taking it away.

Today, just a quarter of all Americans in computer-related occupations are women. Why is this field with such a promising outlook attracting so few female candidates? This story takes a look at what's deterring women and why it's important for everyone that they be represented in the tech workforce.