[lifeisstillgood]

Is this achieving the goals of getting computing power into hands of kids ? I know they gave away a million a year or two ago, but my kids were more interested in raspberry pi as a platform - the micro-bit just kind of did not have the ... marketing ? appeal ? obvious way in ?

I like the idea - I can see some kind of path to free/open IoT devices and some standardisation. But ... is tehre some call home feature that says 'I have been turned on 5 times'?

Is this effective ?

I know I sound like an old moaner - it just is an important area - how do we measure if we are succeeding?

[benjamta]

My kids love microbit - and have been hacking stuff on the platform since they were 7 or 8 years old.

They’ve played with raspberry pi too, but Microbit is just so immediate. You write some code (or drag some blocks about), upload and it just works. It’s simple, understandable and quick. It’s also bridging the gap to learning some basic electronics too - building small circuits on a bread board with a mictrobit controller.

There’s something about microbit that just sparks my kids imagination - they’ve used it for school projects, homework assignments, they make little robots, figure out how they can automate tasks like watering their plants. All things they could do on Raspberry Pi of course, but still…

I see my kids playing about with mictrobits and I get a really sense of the same joy I had messing about with computers and electronics in the 1980s.

[MarcScott]

Many of the resources we make at Raspberry Pi, actually target the micro:bit[1].

We recently worked with UK Scouts, and again used the micro:bit for many of our resources [2]. They're just easier devices to use, especially for some Scout leaders, who are not technically experienced.

[1] https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects?hardware%5B%5D=...

[2] https://www.scouts.org.uk/staged-badges/digital-maker/stage-...

[adolph]

how do we measure if we are succeeding?

I think of these devices as part of a long term, broad based parenting strategy aimed at opening mental access to a variety of human activity that includes but is not dominated by technology. The measures of this are very person-specific. It could be engagement, attainment, development, etc. I don't think there is a measure for all of "we."

As far as I'm aware there is no "call home feature" and I am very glad that there isn't as my goal is to clear many paths for the kids to choose from and not excessively encourage any particular one. If one were to have a measure, you can connect MakeCode to a GitHub account and track commits. If that became the measure, I'm sure the funnest kids would find a way to break it with negative 2000 lines of code [0] or the like.

Having tried Raspberry Pi, micro:bit and ESP8266 with my kids at various points I've found the micro:bit and MakeCode package to be at a sweet spot of simplicity and "batteries included." It contains many features like Bluetooth transfer of code that is brilliantly easy and enough sensors and lights to see something real without much yak shaving. There is a sufficient ecosystem of micro-bit slotted servo drivers and complete kits to fit different learning experiences.

If a person is interested in more sophisticated programming then a full Linux machine is great. If they want to sprinkle sensors everywhere then the Arduino universe is great. For someone who is curious but not committed then the micro:bit is an accessible path to develop a budding interest.

0. https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Negative_2000_Li...

[jvvw]

I've got quite a bit of experience of doing coding stuff with kids - I set up the CoderDojo at The National Museum of Computing in the UK (paused at the moment), have run a Code Club at our local library, have two kids myself and am a Raspberry Pi Certified Educator. I've done quite a lot of Microbit sessions for kids and a handful of Raspberry Pi ones.

I really like Microbits for all sorts of reasons and they fill a very different place in the ecosystem to a Raspberry Pi. They are cheap and have a low entry threshold - I can get a kid doing interesting stuff on a Microbit in a matter of minutes, but there's still interesting potential if you want to go in an electronics direction with them. They are also fairly indestructible so you can let kids tinker with them more. There's not much you can do with a Raspberry Pi that you can't do on other computers without buying something like a SenseHAT or going down the electronics route. It's hard to do electronics with kids without close to one-to-one supervision.

I can see for older kids with tech-savvy parents who are willing to invest in electronics components etc. there are more possibilities with a Raspberry Pi and there is obviously lots of fun stuff you can do that you could never do with Microbits, but I definitely don't see them as direct competitors.

The other thing I will say is that I have noticed a bit of a personality thing too - some kids get super-excited by making the LEDs on a Microbit light up and so on and some really don't care. Different types of coding definitely appeal different to different children.

[jvvw]

I should add that it's actually the speaker and microphone that I am most excited about in terms of the potential for interesting new projects for kids. Crocodile clips and headphones were quite cumbersome, especially for kids. Although I might have to get used to more noise in our sessions!

[mmoskal]

Yes.

There's some info here https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2020/3/243028-the-bbc-microbi...

The total shipped number is now 5 million units. A significant part of these devices are in weekly use.

Disclaimer: I'm one of the authors of that article.

[lifeisstillgood]

Thank you to all the replies - I have some reading to do :-)

[ineedasername]

In terms of rapidly getting up & running with projects, I think micro::bit fills a nice niche in between an arduino and pi. You can have a light blinking in a few minutes on an arduino, but not much more without add components. A pi can obviously do tons of stuff without any additional hardware, but you have to boot a full OS to get there. A micro::bit gets you up & running about as fast as an arduino but you can code more meaningful projects without any additional hardware.

[FerretFred]

It's a very versatile device. I paired mine with a LoraWAN Hat and it sits outside in my garden, in a waterproof (unventilated) case measuring temperature and light. It's worked reliably through heatwaves and cold, wet weather and only stops working when the batteries die. It's very tough.