BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) — It looks like a familiar scene. Children sit down opposite computer screens and tune out the world.

But they weren't using social media or watching YouTube.

They were coding.

Once a month, young girls meet at the Bob Kirby Branch of the Warren County Public Library to participate in Girls of Steel, a program designed to introduce girls ages 8-13 to science, technology, engineering, art and math, or STEAM.

These girls have created slime, bath bombs and tie-dyed clothes, and set stuff on fire — all the while learning about the states of matter, chemical reactions and mo...