Author | Lightnews

Jonny Austin @jonnya.bsky.social · Dec 12

Also if you know anyone with V1s sitting idle you can encourage them to update the firmware for web USB support and then checkout the teaching resources (microbit.org/teach) to help them get started - we still see lots of great V1 usage and it’s still supported! microbit.org/get-started/...

micro:bit teach

Everything teachers need to inspire their students

microbit.org

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Jonny Austin @jonnya.bsky.social · Dec 12

Sadly not zero (yet!), but check out some of the usage stats & teacher confidence numbers from rollouts/programmes: 90% or more teachers said they were confident or very confident to use their learning and the materials provided with their students. (Consolidated research from several projects)

micro:bit teach

Everything teachers need to inspire their students

microbit.org

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Jonny Austin @jonnya.bsky.social · Dec 11

10 million micro:bits is a nice number of micro:bits 🎉🌏

🔗 microbit.org/news/2024-12... has great stats on impact and goals for @microbit.org

Cheers to the awesome people and partners who have got us off to this excellent start. 🚀

Celebrating 10 million micro:bits around the world

Micro:bit Educational Foundation's 2024 highlights

microbit.org

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Jonny Austin @jonnya.bsky.social · Nov 27

I missed these when JLCPCB announced it - so as I'm late to the party, would love to see creative and beautiful PCBs people have made with it (or similar services) jlcpcb.com/blog/multi-c...

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Reposted by Jonny Austin

RPCERC - Raspberry Pi Computing Education Research Centre @rpcerc.bsky.social · Nov 26

Primary teachers - we're investigating physical computing in schools. Do you have 10 minutes to help us by completing a quick survey? More details and the link are here: computingeducationresearch.org/blog-primary.... Please do share with colleagues in your school and networks too!

Primary teachers: tell us about your experience of teaching physical computing - Raspberry Pi Computing Education Research Centre

Calling all UK upper primary school teachers! Share your experience of teaching with the BBC micro:bit in our quick survey and help shape future research. Complete by the end of the term for a chance ...

computingeducationresearch.org

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Jonny Austin @jonnya.bsky.social · Nov 22

Hello! I am Jonny and I try to learn stuff and make things that other people can use to make things and learn stuff. Recently: micro:bit, past: MakeSpace Cambridge. Love creative tech and problem solving. Have a physical keyboard on my phone. I “skipped” Twitter/X so I’m a social media newbie.

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Jonny Austin @jonnya.bsky.social · Nov 22

Ah, shame - I am here for edu track day only but I’ll give you a shout if I end up in the “conference fringes” on Monday.

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Reposted by Jonny Austin

Neeve Hyland @neevehyland.bsky.social · Nov 20

💫Excited to see the Micro:bit Educational Foundation launch CreateAI today on #WorldChildrensDay!

🎉 Use movement data with micro:bit to train a machine learning model and bring AI to life in code.

Find out more: microbit.org/news/2024-11...

#Microbit #CreateAI #EdChatIE

https://microbit.org/news/2024-11-2…

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Jonny Austin @jonnya.bsky.social · Nov 21

@carlosperate.bsky.social just joined and would make a great addition!

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Reposted by Jonny Austin

Carlos @carlosperate.bsky.social · Nov 20

My first day here on BlueSky & I’m thrilled to share something really exciting we’ve been working on!

✨ CreateAI ✨
A hands-on tool to explore and create AI with #microbit. Train ML models with movement data & bring them to life with code!

👉 Learn more: microbit.org/news/2024-11...
#AI #ML #EdTech

An illustration for CreateAI.
Shows a pair of hands with data waves in the background to represent with motion data, and a micro:bit and MakeCode blocks to represent the AI/ML model running on the micro:bit with a MakeCode programme.
It includes the text: micro:bit Create AI, try our new machine learning tool
And the URL: createai.microbit.org

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Jonny Austin @jonnya.bsky.social · Nov 20

The Micro:bit Educational Foundation just launched micro:bit #CreateAI 🎉! microbit.org/ai/. I love it for playful, physical & creative learning about ML. Use movement data to train/test a model, then use that model in #MakeCode to make an AI thing! Mad excited to see what people make! #microbit

micro:bit and AI

Dive deeper into micro:bit CreateAI

microbit.org

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Reposted by Jonny Austin

Tonya Coats @teachercoats.bsky.social · Nov 19

go.bsky.app/93bgdee

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Jonny Austin @jonnya.bsky.social · Nov 19

I’m going to be at PyCon AU this Friday for the education track. Give me a shout if you’re going to be there and want to talk #microbit or #python. Looking forward to a fantastic track of talks. #pyconau

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Jonny Austin @jonnya.bsky.social · Nov 18

www.youtube.com/watch?v=asji... This is such a beautiful and clever solution by @loretod.bsky.social, Bill Siever and PrintLab. I love that the micro:bit gets to go inside and play a part. For others that still love text see Loreto's blog www.zeroday.camp/empowering-a... #accessibility #microbit

Micro:bit Assistive Technology Dual Switch | Tap

YouTube video by PrintLab

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Jonny Austin

loreto @loretod.bsky.social · Nov 9

Join us on Monday (11/11/24) at 4PM EST as we talk about how to use the #Microbit and #3D_Design to create custom computer interactions for people with physical disabilities. #OpenAT #AssistiveTech www.meetup.com/assistive-te...

Empowering Accessibility: Using the Micro:bit and 3D Design as Switch Interface, Mon, Nov 11, 2024, 4:00 PM | Meetup

Join us for an informative virtual event that explores the innovative potential of the Micro:bit in creating accessible technology solutions. This session will delve into t

www.meetup.com

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Jonny Austin @jonnya.bsky.social · Oct 31

There are fun days at work, then there are "building a magic-wand controlled pumpkin" days at work :D

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Jonny Austin @jonnya.bsky.social · Oct 16

That sounds excellent, we'd be really eager to learn about whether there are ways the product could change to help with this too. I'll DM you so we can have a chat :)

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Jonny Austin @jonnya.bsky.social · Sep 26

The 'images' section in 'advanced' has a neat `show image` block.
#MakeCode has a built-in 400ms delay in `basic➡️show leds` and `show icon`, but it's configurable with `images➡️show image`. Plus images can be in arrays... enough to make your heart beat faster.
#microbit #faveblocks #TeamCompSci

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Jonny Austin @jonnya.bsky.social · Sep 17

I think my favourite change in the 2024 #MakeCode release for #microbit is one of the tiniest: make the border colour lighter/stand-out when blocks of the same colour are nested. Makes reading complex block maths so much easier 😃. All the changes at makecode.com/blog/microbi... #TeamCompSci

New MakeCode blocks with clearer highlighting on the blocks for compound expressions

Old MakeCode blocks, harder to read and see order of operations

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Jonny Austin @jonnya.bsky.social · Aug 29

Any folks in #TeamCompSci tried using the #microbit
Python Editor for more general #Python teaching, rather than "micro:bit first" stuff? With the simulator and the REPL you've got a browser-based REPL and some interesting possible inputs. Works with micro:bit Classroom too.

A picture of the microbit Python Editor showing the following code, as well as a REPL that's been used to interact with the code.

# Imports go at the top
from microbit import *

name = input('What is your name? ')
print('Hello', name)

if temperature() > 25:
temp = "hot"
else:
temp = "cold"

temp_response = input(name + " are you " + temp + "? ")

while True:
display.scroll(temp_response)

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Jonny Austin @jonnya.bsky.social · Aug 29

This week, a more playful one for the #microbit #faveblocks: I love the "free fall" gesture (click on 'shake' dropdown). This micro:bit is deploying an umbrella as a parachute when it is falling ☂️🪂. (Under the hood this just checks the magnitude of acceleration is below a threshold.) #TeamCompSci

An image showing how to get to the 'Freefall' gesture in MakeCode and a sample showing the micro:bit showing an umbrella when free fall is detected.

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Jonny Austin @jonnya.bsky.social · Aug 27

Don't suppose you're able to make the files for this lovely #microbit case available? I'm sure there are plenty of folks out there who would like to print a few for themselves #TeamCompSci

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Jonny Austin @jonnya.bsky.social · Aug 27

My family stumbled across this activity on a recent visit and absolutely loved it. Awesome to hear the micro:bit sounds put to playful use! Thanks for sharing the amazing detail behind it.

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Reposted by Jonny Austin

Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · Aug 22

The lovely folks at the V&A Museum asked me to design an activity for kids (and their parents) that tied in with their 'Tropical Modernism' exhibition and had a digital component. It's running every Wed/Thur/Fri in the main museum. I went to do it yesterday with the 6yo and 3yo 🧵

Side elevation drawing of a simple modernist building with walls with various geometric patterns of holes, and also large openings between the walls. A stylised sun shines on the building from the top left and a fan blows from the bottom right. There are two blocky figures with BBC micro:bits (tiny computers) for torsos. One figure is inside the building in the shad and blown by the fan and one is on the roof in the sunshine. The illustration is labelled 'Cool Buildings'

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Jonny Austin @jonnya.bsky.social · Aug 22

This week, `map`: Great for scaling physical input into the right ranges for micro:bit output - here's a super simple spirit level. Ideal if the maths/scaling part might be a distraction from the lesson and you want to focus more on the making or the output. #microbit #faveblocks.

The map block in Microsoft MkeCode, with a picture of the MakeCode simulator displaying a simple spirit level program. Code is: basic.forever(function () {
basic.clearScreen()
led.plot(Math.map(input.acceleration(Dimension.X), -900, 900, 0, 4), 2)
})

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