While Micro:Bits are typically used as a device for teaching students how to code, there is also a lot of value and functionality in using it as a game device. During the pandemic, I worked with elementary students as a Computer Science teacher. I wanted to include mobile devices in my lessons. The problem? None of them had mobile devices! Luckily, I was able to get my hands on a class set of Micro:bits, which are programmable little computers. With the ongoing pandemic, the functions of the device was amazing in allowing students to play with technology, without technology.
This is the Infection game. The radio function of the game allows the Micro:bits to communicate with each other. If a sick Micro:bit gets too close to a healthy one, un oh. The game ends after a certain time or when everyone becomes sick. A great game for a horrible time to teach social distancing and the transmission of viruses.
https://makecode.microbit.org/projects/infection
Hi Wynn:
I am not sure what the cost is of Microbits, but I assume that they would be much cheaper vs a smartphone. For classrooms that may have limited tech resources or wifi accessibility, I could see Microbits as a solution for teaching coding. I also appreciated the video in the link you shared. Incorporating the physics and coding applications is very important, since both go hand and hand. It is important for students to understand this, especially if they desire to make careers in such fields.
Micro:Bits are incredible. It’s my understanding that in the UK, where they were developed, every student of a certain grade receives one and that they’re gradually being folded into the curriculum in various ways.
What’s fascinating about them to me, someone who started computing about 40 years ago, writing BASIC programs on TRS-80’s and Commodore PETs and the like, is their ability to interact with the real world. Back in the day I could draw math functions on a screen, or make a dot bounce around, but everything happened on the monitor. With a Micro:Bit and some bits and pieces from the electronics store, a student today can (say) make a room light turn on when it gets dark, or sound an alarm if the dog hops up on the sofa, or make real things interact with other real things in infinite ways. We should all be a bit jealous.
As an educator, I’m also fascinated by the way they and similar microprocessors can make digital and electronic technologies a bit more constructivist. Why just read about robots if you can make one? Add to that a growing open-source community of practice — sharing code, schematics, and other resources — and new technology stops being something for learners to passively consume and becomes something they can imagine, research, collaborate on and build. I could gush about them for days.
It’s really amazing. I find that the power of MicroBits are also in the fact that they’re able to interact with the real world. I have many resources in the various schools that I work with that has the same learning objects, to be able to code, but most of them seems like toys compared to MicroBits. For instance, Sphero is something that the kids love, but to me, it just doesn’t have the same real world application power that MicroBits have. Being able to measure temperatures, generate sound, and measure moisture are some ways that MicroBits can solve real world problems that can occur.
My favorite function is still the radio function however. It just screams the essence of technology to me.