A couple of weeks ago I began a journey of discovery, followed by my merry band of sixth graders. We were on a quest to discover the wonderful properties the micro:bit could offer us on this trip into uncharted territory.
I shared with you what my first experiences with this device were. Now I will tell you about the students´experiences, challenges, joy and inconveniences.
Since I only have the kit with the ten micro:bits and a class of twenty-one students, I decided to divide the class in teams of two (one of the teams would have an extra student). To do this as randomly as possible I decided to use a website: https://www.randomlists.com/team-generator
As soon as this was done, I then, asked the students to get to know more about the micro:bit by visiting https://microbit.org/. They needed to get acquainted with all its features and components as well as how to safely handle it. They reviewed this concepts in the Quick Start, Features and Safety sections of the microbit.org website. All this took an hour (a class).
Next class the students would have to pass a quick evaluation to be able to finally, put their hands on the micro:bit.
I really wanted them to be safe and handle the micro:bit properly, so I created a 15 question kahoot (if you have never used kahoot as a quick evaluation tool or exit ticket, I highly recommend you give it a try). If you are interested here’s the link: https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/4d96e7f5-2a5e-4851-b090-d977487c75e7.
I am happy to report that 16 of the 21 students passed the kahoot on their first try. They immediately got started on getting the micro:bit to work. The remaining 5 students had another go at the kahoot and passed with flying colors and were able to join the rest of the class. They started discovering the different things the micro:bit could do, by first assembling the parts, installing the batteries and running the basic sequence preinstalled in the microcontroller. After this first hands-on encounter, they got down to business.
Finally, each team got to choose a project from those available at the https://makecode.microbit.org/projects. Each project had to be different from those selected by their classmates. I did not matter that the projects were easy or difficult, it mattered that they had the chance to choose on their own.
So far, the project (mine) has worked out splendidly and the students are excited. I have now invested four hours into it: Two by myself, and two more with the students.
I have now covered all the basics and it is time to help them get started and for them to put into practice their knowledge (or lack thereof) and make their first project.
To be continued…
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