Convince an entire generation of school children that STEM is cool

How do you convince an entire generation of school children that STEM is cool? You let them experiment.

Along with 25 other tech companies, including ARM, Samsung, and Microsoft, Freescale is working with the BBC to provide kids across the UK with one million personal coding devices as part of their Make it Digital initiative. The goal is to stimulate children’s interest in technology at a young age by providing them with the tools they need to learn and succeed.

The device, coined Micro Bit, is designed to be a starting point to get younger children interesting in coding so they can move onto other, more complex devices in future. Micro Bit, which uses a Kinetis MCU and Freescale motion sensors, will be released this September. It has a built in LED display and can be programmed using Touch Develop, C++, MBED and Python. Kids can plug the Micro Bit straight into the computer and start creating.And the Micro Bit can even connect and communicate with other devices, including Arduino, Galileo, Kano and Raspberry Pi, as well as other Micro Bits.

STEM education is important to us at Freescale, and we believe children have the ability to create incredible things with the right support and education. In 2013, we founded the Freescale Foundation as a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting science, technology, engineering, and math education for K-12 students. Whether it’s unveiling the fun science behind model rockets, the engineering that enables robots or the technology that drives automotive advancement, the foundation aims to empower our future innovators.

We are excited to support such an amazing initiative that will enable the great minds of tomorrow, today.

John Dixon is Director of Global Marketing at Freescale.