Course Overview

This track provides access to various micro:bit tutorials covering basic electronics concepts. In these tutorials you will work with your child to explore the fundamentals laws of electricity, your child will also learn the differences between active and passive electronic components, you will work together to create simple electronic circuits, integrate these circuits with your BBC micro:bit and write code to trigger different behaviors. As part of this course you will use the BBC micro:bit to interact with the real world using the LDR sensors, LED’s, resistors, HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensors, soil moisture sensors, etc. You will use the makecode block based coding platform to write your code. These tutorials will help you build upon the knowledge gained coding with Scratch and the BBC micro:bit.

This is an advanced micro:bit track with a focus on exploring fundamentals of electronics and electricity. We would highly recommend that you complete the following tracks before you start off with this track.

1. Introduction to coding concepts with Scratch I
2. Introduction to coding concepts with Scratch II
3. Exploring Coding Concepts Using the BBC micro:bit I
4. Exploring Coding Concepts Using the BBC micro:bit II
5. Exploring Coding Concepts Using the BBC micro:bit III
6. Design Interactive Games Using the BBC micro:bit
7. Introduction To Electronics Using The BBC micro:bit – I

Prerequisites –

1. This tutorial makes extensive use of the BBC micro:bit.
2. If you haven’t purchased a BBC micro:bit yet you might want to head over and pick one up now.
3. We would recommend that you pick up the BBC micro:bit, BBC micro:bit breakout board and a breadboard.
4. The BBC micro:bit breakout board and breadboard makes working with the BBC micro:bit a lot easier.
5. This tutorial is based on the SparkFun Inventor’s Kit for the BBC Micro:Bit.
6. We will be using the official BBC MakeCode editor to write code for all our tutorials.

About BBC micro:bit

The Micro Bit (also referred to as BBC Micro Bit, stylised as micro:bit) is an ARM-based embedded system designed by the BBC for use in computer education in the UK. The board is 4 cm × 5 cm and has an ARM Cortex-M0 processor, accelerometer and magnetometer sensors, Bluetooth and USB connectivity, a display consisting of 25 LEDs, two programmable buttons, and can be powered by either USB or an external battery pack. The device inputs and outputs are through five ring connectors that are part of the 23-pin edge connector at the bottom of the board. The micro:bit can be programmed using the Microsoft Block code program editor which is similar to the block based language Scratch ideal for 7-12 year olds. The micro:bit can also be programmed using the Makecode editor in Javascript and Python which allows for older kids to learn the Javascript and Python programming language using the micro:bit.

You can read more about the BBC micro:bit at the microbit website. Also see Kitronik’s resources here – Parents Complete Guide To The BBC micro:bit.