Stretching a school budget

In my opinion (and I'm not an educator, so please, take this with a grain of salt), it depends on what you're wanting to teach them first/most. Are you wanting to teach them coding, or electronics, or computer science?
If you're just trying to teach them how to code, then the cheapest old server with WiFi or internet connectivity would work. There are plenty of apps for most phones that allow connection over SSH/Telnet, and most people are in possession of, if not comfortable with, smart devices these days. It would also allow for students to work on projects without having to be on campus.
For computer science, as well as coding, then the cheapest WiFi/Bluetooth-enabled SBC you can find would work. It would allow for more low-level experimentation while still allowing users to navigate through a high-level environment (smart device over SSH/Telnet/VNC), as well as teaching configuration options to connect their devices. If you can't afford a board per-student and/if not all of the students can afford a board, they can still connect with their device and work in groups on a single board.
For computer science, coding, and electronics, the SBC route might still be the way to go if the SBC you decide to use has GPIO. Using scrap electronics from dumpster-dives, Goodwill trips, and garage sale raids is a cheap and easy way to get a fair bit of certain, more expensive parts to experiment with, but for more discrete things like resistors, capacitors, and some transistors, coils, relays, motors, and switches, they're cheap enough that you can buy them in bulk for fairly cheap on sites such as BangGood (though I'd test for lead first TBH), eBay, or Amazon. This ensures fresh new leads and mostly guarantees a working part.

In my opinion (and I'm not an educator, so please, take this with a grain of salt), it depends on what you're wanting to teach them first/most. Are you wanting to teach them coding, or electronics, or computer science?
If you're just trying to teach them how to code, then the cheapest old server with WiFi or internet connectivity would work. There are plenty of apps for most phones that allow connection over SSH/Telnet, and most people are in possession of, if not comfortable with, smart devices these days. It would also allow for students to work on projects without having to be on campus.
For computer science, as well as coding, then the cheapest WiFi/Bluetooth-enabled SBC you can find would work. It would allow for more low-level experimentation while still allowing users to navigate through a high-level environment (smart device over SSH/Telnet/VNC), as well as teaching configuration options to connect their devices. If you can't afford a board per-student and/if not all of the students can afford a board, they can still connect with their device and work in groups on a single board.
For computer science, coding, and electronics, the SBC route might still be the way to go if the SBC you decide to use has GPIO. Using scrap electronics from dumpster-dives, Goodwill trips, and garage sale raids is a cheap and easy way to get a fair bit of certain, more expensive parts to experiment with, but for more discrete things like resistors, capacitors, and some transistors, coils, relays, motors, and switches, they're cheap enough that you can buy them in bulk for fairly cheap on sites such as BangGood (though I'd test for lead first TBH), eBay, or Amazon. This ensures fresh new leads and mostly guarantees a working part.

Thanks for your thoughts...

I am also not the educator, I am the STEM Ambassador.

In the UK we have something in our secondary schools called D&T, which I think stands for Design and Technology. Which means it very definitely isn't about coding, for a large number of the students (age group in this case 11-16), it is about making a product, which can be as much about making the casework, making textiles, and even encompasses "food technology"... And in some cases taught by teachers who used to teach "food technology" and sometimes don't know the first thing about computers (unless you count MS Word). In the schools around here, they seem to have a recruitment problem getting enough teachers to teach D&T, and many of them seem to be supply teachers coming out of retirement, who used to teach woodwork and metalwork. But there are some outstanding exceptions too.

Sad to say, I have seen some shockingly out of date attitudes from one or two of the older teachers towards the female students, and their ability or interest in technology and technical subjects. It would be so good to find the kit to motivate the students, and educate the individuals concerned by showing them what girls can do if they are motivated and supported. But another school I have talked to has a woman in charge of D&T, and she is so good - and the gender balance in her after-school club shows how that impacts on the number of girls interested.

But when it is electronics and computing based, it often seems to get as far as the idea for an "app" but no real coding for the school kids.

We need to bring the tools to build real things to more of the them, to inspire more of them. And the D&T teacher (unfortunately my main contact is off-sick with stress currently at one of the schools I am dealing with!) seeks to do this with the likes of Arduinos, though he currently has "Crumbles" to work with, as a legacy - so that code can be made to control stuff, and make things happen or move.

There are of course coding clubs springing up all over the place, in which case that would be fertile ground for the cheaper options that you mention, perhaps - but there is often a sense in schools of minimising risk, and buying from official suppliers - and in this case the school's budget is a meagre £200 - £400 per year at the most, to buy stuff for a large number of students (so it may amount to about £2 per head, or something of that order - so it needs to be reusable.

If they can get more "bang for their buck", if they could motivate them, then they might attract more budget, but it seems to be a chicken and egg problem...

This school is lucky to have an experienced technician at their disposal, but I think that his options of where to spend the money may be limited as he needs to get other people to approve his purchases - though they seem comfortable with Amazon and possibly even Alibaba... perhaps because they are increasingly well known to domestic shoppers.

Hi Nigel,

It is really great what you are doing. Of all the lessons, Design&Technology was one of my favourites at that age (along with Physics perhaps), and it was about the only opportunity we go to be really seen as adults at that age, working responsibly with the occasional machine (milling machine, vacuum forming, soldering etc) but also the teacher was inspiring, always making us become mini-experts for a week on a topic of our choice, as long as it was slightly D&T related, and share reports/research on it each week with the others. That was kind of new for us that we had that responsibility/control at that age. Also, we all (including the teacher) arranged one D&T related outing each, for everyone to attend.

So for example one person arranged a trip for us to Canary Wharf to see the skyscrapers (he actually went on to become an architect) and I think I arranged a trip either to the Science Museum or something like that, I can't recall. The teacher arranged a trip to see inside a Concorde, and it was so popular that even non-D&T students came along that day, whoever could fit in the coach : ).

I believe (I'm not sure) that things related to sensing physical properties and "doing" something with them (like displaying it, plotting data, etc) are quite interesting, because it makes one learn more about the world. For example low-cost temperature sensors, etc.

Also, with the current SpaceX excitement, perhaps small sensors on model rockets could be fun. I think that sort of thing could be really inspiring.

I'm glad you're thinking of ways to get most interest in engineering for the limited funds. Teaching is so important, it is a real shame it is so underfunded in the UK. I'd lose no sleep if taxes had to increase to provide twice the salary to teachers and to attract new teachers. It is woefully inadequate, and the better paying positions require one to be a regional teaching expert, which is crazy - such salaries should be available for every school to offer.

what girls can do if they are motivated and supported

You may want to look at the 'wearables' and technology that can be incorporated into more fashion related.

zengirl2 (Leslie Birch) did some excellent work and posted it there.

Adafruit is probably another that is well worth exploring and even discussing with Limor Fried   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limor_Fried

For what it's worth, our observations are that the females are quicker at picking up coding and the concept, than the males, however they need to be interested in what they are trying to achieve.

Mark

Thanks for tagging me in this conversation and I've actually been doing some teaching for a broad age range--teachers sharing STEM with Jr. High/High Schoolers and college/adults. I've been very pro-Arduino all along as that is my foundation. I also come from a strong wearable tech background using conductive thread and other crafting materials. What I have found is that nowadays students (esp younger ones) have a hard time with attention span. So, teaching them one or two skills at a time is doable, but trying to do more than that gets complicated. So, teaching sewing, or breadboards and soldering as well as the normal electronics and coding becomes crazy. It's too much for people to grasp in a short amount of time. However, then along came Adafruit's Circuit Playground Express. Full disclosure that I freelance for Adafruit, but as soon as I saw this thing I knew it was going to allow me to share my passion and be successful with students of all ages.

This Arduino compat. has many sensors on-board as well as a ring of Neopixels that give it instant likability. The real deal is the fact that it can be coded three different ways--Arduino, CircuitPython or MakeCode. I can tell you I'm very stubborn because I feel like people should really learn Arduino coding. In fact, I'm currently teaching an Arduino 101 for mostly architecture students at a university (most have no coding experience) and I originally was going to make them all learn traditional Arduino code. However, one look at the MakeCode web page and I was sold. No installing stuff and the drag and drop makes perfect sense (and it even has a toggle to see the Java!). Right now most of my class is doing the MakeCode, but a few are experimenting with Arduino. Some that started with MakeCode are seeing how things translate to Arduino, too. I've started with fun projects like "design your own emoji" (the on-board lights can make smiley faces if you are imaginative) and also "design your own hat" (some students did lights/music for sports teams or more serious experiments that involved sensors looking at posture, just using the Arduino on their hats!).

Honestly I'm so blown away and I'm even thinking I should write a book about this. One of my students sent me an email last week with a video of a light up sign she made in a metals class that incorporated the Circuit Playground Express as a switch. I recently had private interviews with my students for Checkpoint 1 (there are a total of 4 checkpoints for the class). Here are some of the comments I got: "I so wish I had learned about this when I was younger", "I'm not sure how this fits into my major of Facilities Mgmt, but I really want to do more with Arduino", "I like this Arduino so much more than other ones I've tried before", "Can we make a giant SoundCloud like that artist made?". Again, these are students with no comp sci or engineering backgrounds and they are going wild. I also introduced them to using copper tape and an external LED using alligator clips, as the microcontroller has fat pads that make it easy to do quick experiments. Next week I'll be taking them to a maker space at the school to learn soldering to complete their copper tape drawing/experiment. This class meets 2x/week and it started in Jan. They've grasped in a few weeks what took me about a year. So, I can really stand behind this.

As for robotics, I've taken my experience to the engineering building at the same university to see how things may work. They are currently working on an outreach project for schools with a rover that has to go through a maze for students in lower schools as well as upper schools. They started with a very complicated classic Arduino with all sorts of sensors and four servos as well as laser cut pieces. I told them it looked too scary because for younger students with no exposure it was too much going on (and pricey!!). They want things to be accessible and have already changed to making a cardboard chassy. So, now they are trying to see if the Circuit Playground could work, at least for the younger students, since it has MakeCode capability. I'm not sure they can get the powerful servos for this set-up to work, but I know there is a simple tutorial for a bot with round cardboard wheels on Adafruit's site. So, if you are looking for robotics usage, I can't guarantee that this will be a solution. However, if you want something that is graspable by students and adults, and has much capability for growth, then this is your baby. Over the summer I taught a class to adults using the previous Circuit Playground board, and one person came up with a bicycle safety design prototype that he was going to pursue as an invention. So, do no be put off by tutorials for magic wands and light games. Once people understand how the sensors and data work, their imaginations can run wild, especially because they will be able to handle the code. Sorry for the length of this post, but all of this is fresh in my mind as I'm teaching the course now.

I will definitely look into wearables - which are fun anyway, but provide a way of grabbing the interest of both genders, I would have thought.

And I must take a close look at the Adafruit community, they seem to have extensive blogs that look very interesting!

Thanks for your wordy contribution!

Nigel