BBC gives children mini-computers in Make it Digital scheme

[networkmangler]

[h=1]Just seen this on the BBC website

 

BBC gives children mini-computers in Make it Digital scheme[/h]

[Dos_Box]

The BBC will be giving away mini-computers to 11-year-olds across the country as part of its push to make the UK more digital.

One million Micro Bits - a stripped-down computer similar to a Raspberry Pi - will be given to all pupils starting secondary school in the autumn term.

 

All very nice, but did anyone know about this, and if you did have you made plans to provide for them in classrooms?

 

[JRowley]

Never heard of the plans, have no idea what the teachers will do with them to be honest, we already have a set of raspberry pis.

[LosOjos]

All very nice, but did anyone know about this, and if you did have you made plans to provide for them in classrooms?

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]29609[/ATTACH]

 

If that's an actual photo of the machine, it looks like an upgraded version of their Code Bug which I had a play with last year; it's nothing like a Raspberry Pi. It can only be programmed via a Scratch-like interface running on a PC/Mac/Linux (there was only a 64-bit Ubuntu package when I tried it, no documentation) and their sole function is to blink the LEDs in that grid.

 

Here's a video of them in action (one of the teams I mentored at YRS produced this):

 

 

[You can only see the LEDs because we were told we were not to reveal the fact these were produced by the BBC as they were only prototypes and they didn't want any media coverage; this despite a CBBC presenter having already blogged on the BBC's website about them ]

 

I helped the kids to hack the device a little; they programmed it using the aforemnetioned interface to play a different animation depending on which button was pressed. I helped them wire these buttons up to GPIO pins on a Raspberry Pi so that they could then trigger an animation via GPIO/Python.

 

It was also clear from the IDE that they were planning on making them sense input from 4 of the 6 rings around the LEDs (banana plug sized through holes; 1 +5v, 1 GND, 4 for sensing) but this wasn't implemented at the time.

 

The IDE actually produced JavaScript code before compiling and uploading, suggesting there'll be ways of programming them in other languages. Had we more time, we would have tried to work this out looking at the HTTP headers (the interface was web based) but we were too busy at the time.

 

So it's a fun little gadget and I do think it'd be great to get younger kids interested in coding (anything physical seems to peak their interest) but it's a long way off a Raspberry Pi alternative.

Edited March 12, 2015 by LosOjos

[LosOjos]

More info on this shared in a Wired interview (and they mention my daughter's project! ) - sounds like it's come on a long way since I played with it!

 

Micro Bit: hands-on with BBC's coding kit (Wired UK)

[D_E_Manton]

Microbit and Codebug are not the same thing.

 

If you look at old BBC blogs they refer to the codebug BBC Blogs - About the BBC - CBBC - putting the heart into participation

 

Check out old tweets on twitter with hash tag #codebug and you'll see that it's the same device used in that video.

also referring to BBC.

 

But now the BBC have completely changed the name, it's also now a prototype whereas before they had a fully working device and it look very different to what they had before.

[6Foot2]

Link: Microsoft and the BBC micro:bit: a million ways to inspire a generation | Microsoft News Centre UK

 

...Later this year, the BBC together with Microsoft and a range of other partners will provide every Year 7 student (age 11-12) in the United Kingdom with their very own BBC micro:bit, a personal computing device that they can use to explore the possibilities of computer science, both in and out of the classroom.

 

The device has been specifically designed for students starting with little or no computing experience, to show them that they can progress and ultimately create the type of computer games and other programmes and apps that they use every day...

[6Foot2]

 

The Microbit is a pocket-sized codable computer that will be given out to all year 7 students for free in the autumn 2015. This film shows what it can do.