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micro:bit Blog Setting up to teach kids to program with micro:bit
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Engagement
  • Author Author: rancell
  • Date Created: 23 Oct 2018 8:51 AM Date Created
  • Views 944 views
  • Likes 5 likes
  • Comments 4 comments
  • micro:bit education giveaway
  • the great micro:bit challenge
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Setting up to teach kids to program with micro:bit

rancell
rancell
23 Oct 2018

Together with three other volunteers I run a Code Club for teaching New Zealand year 5 and 6 students (9-10 years old) to code. We have up to 23 students coming this term once a week after school. Luckily I was chosen to be one of the winners of the Great micro:bit Education Giveaway, so during the school holidays I got delivery of 10 shiny new micro:bits that we are going to use this term:

image

And thanks to the nice people at element14 I also got a dancing robot (my kids loved it):

image

I thought I'd describe the equipment we are using to run this club; perhaps it may be of some help to others who are thinking of setting up something similar!

 

The school owns a few laptops / tablets per class and students are able to bring their own computers. Most of the students bring in a Chromebook, which works great with the micro:bit (using Chrome). For those who don't have one (or forget their charger that day image) we have five laptops the school was donated. They initially had Windows set up on them but with the permission of the school I was able to reinstall them with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. Being able to install our own software has been super helpful as it allowed us to set them up to automatically log in (no confusion with passwords) and only have the software we wanted (Chrome and nothing else to distract). They are faster and more reliable than when they ran Windows and Ubuntu is free of charge so this was a great solution to get the most out of some old hardware.

image

You may also recognise the white box beside the laptop. We had issues with the quality of the WiFi coverage at the school and we found computers couldn't connect to eachother. To solve this I asked around friends and family if they had an old ISP provided "modem" lying around in their house. With a bit of configuration (and the school approval) I re-configured it to act as a WiFi access point. This meant we could plug it into the Ethernet and give everyone reliable network access with our own WiFi password. The access point is only powered on during the club.

 

The final piece of hardware is chairs! We run the club in the combined library / staff room. I was initially concerned there weren't enough tables for the kids to work on but what we've found that works well is lots of chairs. The kids like to work with the laptops in their laps and rearrange the chairs as necessary.

image

I hope this helps anyone who is looking to set up something like this. One of the great things about the micro:bit is you don't need a lot of equipment to get coding!

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Top Comments

  • rancell
    rancell over 6 years ago in reply to korn +2
    I'm particularly interested in writing some projects using the Bluetooth radio. What I have planned so far: - A heart monitor where one micro:bit sends a pulse to the other. Challenge is for it to make…
  • korn
    korn over 6 years ago +1
    I love doing these kinds of things at my library. Have you planned any projects yet? I did the basic beating heart and walking space invader figure thing. then let them make name badges.. then the compass…
  • korn
    korn over 6 years ago +1
    FYI the sparkfun serial 3.3v backpack works well when you want an lcd disolay https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9067 Its seems easier on my eyes than an oled....
  • neilk
    neilk over 6 years ago in reply to rancell

    Great start, Robert.

     

    Neil

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  • rancell
    rancell over 6 years ago in reply to korn

    I'm particularly interested in writing some projects using the Bluetooth radio. What I have planned so far:

    - A heart monitor where one micro:bit sends a pulse to the other. Challenge is for it to make an alarm when the patient "flatlines".

    - Joining multiple micro:bits using the radio to make a scrolling display.

    - A gameshow type voting system where one micro:bit calls a vote, everyone votes Yes or No and the winner is shown on all displays.

     

    I'll blog here as I write them.

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  • korn
    korn over 6 years ago

    FYI the sparkfun serial 3.3v backpack works well when you want an lcd disolay

     

    https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9067

     

    Its seems easier on my eyes than an oled....

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  • korn
    korn over 6 years ago

    I love doing these kinds of things at my library. Have you planned any projects yet?

     

    I did the basic beating heart and walking space invader figure thing. then let them make name badges..

     

    then the compass demo.  A magic 8 ball style thing you shake but it gave food choices since in my house we cant decide what to order....

     

    Luckily we had some Gator bits to work with and did some Neo Pixel stuff too.

     

    I'd like to hear what you have planned....

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