Course Overview –
As part of the tutorials in this development track you will work with your child exploring the different facets of the BBC micro:bit and interacting with the real world using the sensors, LED’s, servo, etc, part of the Starter Kit for the BBC micro:bit. This development track provides access to all of the relevant micro:bit tutorials. These tutorials will introduce you to the various electronic components (Servo, LED’s, Motors, Resistors, Switches, Breadboard, etc.) part of the starter kit including the relevant code blocks you will need to put together. You will use the Makecode block based coding platform to write your code.
The Starter Kit for BBC micro:it comes packed with 37 different electronic bits (Sensors, servo, etc.) and includes the Keyestudio Sensor Shield. The Keystudio Sensor Shield is useful in terms of extending the pin connections from the BBC micro:bit and makes it easy to interface with the different electronic bits i.e. sensors, shield, etc. included in the starter kit. The starter kit for the BBC micro:bit offers a great opportunity to explore the world of electronics using the BBC micro:bit. Interact with the real world through the various sensors, create innovative projects, learn how to program the micro:bit to read data from the sensors and perform certain actions. The starter kit for the BBC micro:bit sis a great way to dive into the awesome world of electronics and get started with your own STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) learning journey.
These tutorials will help you build upon the knowledge gained coding with Scratch and the BBC Makecode editor. This is a beginners micro:bit electronics track. We would highly recommend that you complete the following tracks before you start off with this track.
Take on the Starter Kit for BBC micro:bit development track to get a taste of the type of electronics projects you can build using the BBC micro:bit. If you are looking for a more structured introductory electronics track to dive into the world of electronics we would highly recommend considering the following –
Prerequisites –
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.