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Taffycat

Taffycat

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The BBC Micro Bit.

Initially, every Year-7 child in the UK will receive a BBC Micro Bit, which, it is hoped, will inspire them to start coding.

After the (free) roll-out, it is planned to offer the Micro Bit for general sale, although as yet, the price has not been announced.

The Micro Bit itself is a circuit board measuring just 50x40mm with two buttons and an array of 25 red LEDs in a 5x5 arrangement.

Kids can program the board via a web-based interface to do many things, including flashing up numbers, letters and scrolling messages on the LEDs. Plus, since there’s a built-in accelerometer and compass, it can detect movement and tell which way it’s pointing.

The buttons can control games, or even control music playback on another device such as a phone.

For now the price is £0. A million Micro Bits will be given to schools for Year 7 pupils.
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More info and pics here: www.pcadvisor.co.uk
 
That's pretty clever! Programming is going to be increasingly important to understand (at least at a basic level), so it's good to know that there's a practical way for kids to get interested in it. :).

I've got very fond memories of the original BBC Micro :D.
 
This will probably come out at at the end of 2016 & be the number 1 best seller at xmas!
Sorry for the cynical approach but for once I hope it is true as this is a great little gadget to use/own.
 
Taffycat said:
Initially, every Year-7 child in the UK will receive a BBC Micro Bit, which, it is hoped, will inspire them to start coding.
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Excellent idea :nod: Certainly makes sense for people to understand how technology works, and the best way to make that happen is to start at a young age.
 
This old codger can only remember paper and pencil when I was at School in the 1950's, so much has changed in the intervening years which was so unimaginable in those days.
 
I think this is a great idea, kids pick up new skills quickly so it is definitely better to get them when they're young. Unfortunately, I am not that young but would like to learn how to code - anyone got any tips for oldie?
 
Jade Roberts said:
I think this is a great idea, kids pick up new skills quickly so it is definitely better to get them when they're young. Unfortunately, I am not that young but would like to learn how to code - anyone got any tips for oldie?
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You should try Code Academy, it's great!

https://www.codecademy.com/

Start with HTML & CSS and see where it takes you from there :)
 
Jade Roberts said:
Looks good, is it free? Have you used it before?
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It is free to use, but you can pay a monthly subscription and get extra projects, quizzes, tutorials etc. I've been using it over the past few months - I've done HTML/CSS and am nearly finished with Javascript, but recently I've been busy and haven't had time to work on it. From what I've seen I really like it though :)
 
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