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About LinkBacksRead more.Will it have the same impact that the original BBC micro had back in the 1980s?
Read more.Will it have the same impact that the original BBC micro had back in the 1980s?
Really? Really?The ability to code is now as important as grammar and mathematics skills.
Strikes me as a massive waste of money. The BBC microcomputer was a defining moment as it was the first time most kids had access to any sort of computer as they were beyond the financial reach of most families. Even then most of the ones I had access to were used for playing Granny's Garden. I certainly don't remember anyone ever talking about coding.
Giving kids greater awareness of the nuts and bolts that underly modern operating systems and/or computers is a great idea, but why didn't they just use Raspberry Pis? They already have a wealth of documentation and projects, and are cheap as chips.
Actually, now I have read the projects and played with the web based emulator for their block coding system, I have to say I think they got this right.Originally Posted by b0redom
It could well be far more relevant than the BBC micro ever was. Only knew one family with one of those when I was a kid, no-one else could afford them, most people had something cheaper like a Spectrum or like me a Dragon.
This is a platform for rolling your sleeves up and doing something with it, and programming seems really easy when doing point & click but the Python setup looks quite powerful for more advanced stuff.
I hope replacements are readily available, I hope kids push the boundaries with these things which means a few are going to get burnt out. That means replacements have to be cheap and easy to not put kids off.
I think the power here is stripping away the nuts and bolts of a modern OS. None of that complication, just one app that you write interacting with the outside world.
Because a Raspberry pi needs a lot of work to get it to do things, and for some it's too complicated - drivers, compatabilties etc. Even if you want to use Scratch, for a Hardware HAT, you have quite a challenge for a 7 year old.
A Microbit can run the Scratch type environment straight of the bat, and therefore needs next to no support to get a 7 year old to run it, although its' aimed at a 11 year old.
As a STEM volunteer, the difference to kids being able to use crocodile clips something into the circuit is also very important - that instant "kick-off" point is brilliant.
The BBC micro was NOT the defining moment you describe. It was hideously expensive. An Atari 800 XL $439 (64k), an Atari 130 XE (128K) $659, a ZX Spectrum (48k) $650, Commodore 64 $595. Those were the New Zealand retail prices at the time. I remember drooling over a BBC micro during a shop demo. The price was even more memorable. $2000.
I think the point was that it was the first computer most *schools* got and therefore most children in Britain experienced.
My experience of the BBC micro was looking through the window of a locked classroom at them and thinking it extremely unfair that only the elite pupils were allowed to use them once a week, they just sat idle the rest of the time as only a single teacher knew anything about them.
This BBC Micro:bit is money well spent (IMO) as wanting to learn computing/programing shouldn't have artificial restrictions placed on it, be those financial or academic.
I think this is going to be interesting from a social point of view.
Some kids won't want them, will try to sell them on in a playground black market. Others will create wearable badges that appear to do the sad/happy face of the tutorial but a longer press on one button does a middle finger animation and the other button scrolls text saying eg that cookery teachers smell of lard. I suspect there will be a race to the bottom for finding out what you can get away with on those leds, which could give app writing artisans some elevated status or possibly make them targets for "give me a copy of that app and you won't get beaten up".
Not found any details on how you can use the bluetooth interface yet. I presume you can script for it with the Python extensions at least.
Great to see this. The ability to program shows strong logic and mathematics skills, although I think that a deal probably could have been done for some Raspberry Pi minis. I know from a few teacher friends that Raspberry Pi's are already in a lot of classrooms and are really popular.
Pi really isn't the same.
Go have a play with the tutorials, I tried this one: https://www.codeclubprojects.org/en-...ractive-badge/
Pi can be used for many more things, but microbit's limitations work in its favour.
They aren't going to be hijacked into being used as media centers for example.
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