Britishย kids who are 11 years old will be given free “Micro Bit” computers by BBC as a part of educational activities to develop digital creativity in the kids.
BBC has joined hands with tech giants likeย Samsung, Microsoft, ARM, Barclays and the people behind Raspberry Pi to develop its so called “Micro Bit computer” under the “Make it Digital program”. ย BBC announced that these Micro Bit computers will be given free of cost to British secondary school kids aged 11 years beginning ย autumn 2015. This is an initiative taken by the public broadcaster BBC and 25 major organisations to develop an interest in the kids for computer coding. The Micro Bit Computer in simple words means children can simplyย pick it up, plug it into a computer and start creating instantly. The Micro Bit is still under development however at a glance it can be described as “a small, wearable device with an LED display” that children can use in a number of ways and is justย one of its kind which can be used by kids at the initial stages of coding.
Since last year UK has been planning to incorporate in its secondary school curriculum a strong foundation in subjects like Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). However,ย last year secondary school included someย programming languages and topics related to internet safety in the “coding curriculum”. ย With Micro Bit computer the major aim is to provide some initial level coding skills which will induce in the younger generation an interest for more advanced programming in future, which might help them to connect with other complex programmable devices like Raspberry Pi, Arduino or Kano.ย ย The basic ideology of this “Make it Digital program” seems to be linked toย the idea of “BBC Micro of the 1980โs” which proved helpful in developing some good coders then.
According to BBC Director General, Tony Hall, UK technological industry would probably grow by about 40% in next 5 year and hence BBCย is taking initiatives to get people ready for this boom by special training and even a whole range of educational activities and events are being held across the country to educate parents and teachers as well as the younger onesย to transform into a digitally creative generation.
“Micro Bit” is just a reference name or working title given to the prototype however the actual name will be declared during its launch. So with many big firms on the board it really seems to be a huge project which is aiming at building technologically advanced country.