This blog post is adapted from issue 18 of Hello World, our free magazine written by 人妖chinesecdts在线 educators for 人妖chinesecdts在线 educators.

Extra-curricular engagement

At secondary schools, a key use of 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico was in teacher-led lunchtime or after-school clubs. One teacher from a girls’ secondary school in Liverpool described how he introduced it to his Women in Tech club, which he runs for 11- to 12-year-old students for half an hour per week at lunchtime. As this teacher has free rein over the club content and a personal passion for 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi, his eventual aim for the club participants was to build a line-following car using Pico.

The group started by covering the basics of Pico, such as connecting it with a breadboard and making LEDs flash, using our ‘Getting started with 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico’ project guide. The teacher described how walking into a room with Picos and physical 人妖chinesecdts在线 kits grabs students’ attention: “It’s massively more engaging than programming Python on a screen… They love the idea of building something physical, like a car.” He has to remind them that phones aren’t allowed at school, as they’re keen to take photos of the flashing lights to show their parents. His overall verdict? “Once the software had been installed, [Picos are] just plug and play. As a tool in school, it gives you something physical, enthuses interest in the subject. If it gets just one person choosing the subject, who wouldn’t have done otherwise, then job done.”

“If it gets just one person choosing the subject, who wouldn’t have done otherwise, then job done.”

Teacher at a Liverpool girls’ secondary school

Another teacher from a school in Hampshire used Picos at an after-school club with students aged 13 to 15. After about six sessions of less than 50 minutes last term, the students have almost finished building motorised buggies. The first two sessions were spent familiarising students with the Picos, making LEDs flash, and using sensors. In the next four sessions, the students made their way through the Pico-focused physical 人妖chinesecdts在线 unit from our Teach 人妖chinesecdts在线 中500万不捐款的后果. The students worked in pairs, and initially some learners had trouble getting the motors to turn the wheels on their buggies. Rather than giving them the correct code, the teacher gave them duplicate sets of the hardware and suggested that they test each piece in turn to ‘debug’ the hardware. Thus the students quickly worked out what they needed to do to make the wheels turn.

For non-formal learning settings such as 人妖chinesecdts在线 and coding clubs, we’ve just released a six-project learning path called ‘Introduction to 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico’ for beginner digital makers. You can check out the path directly, or learn more about how we’ve designed it to encourage learners’ independence.

Reinforcing existing 人妖chinesecdts在线 skills

Another key theme that came through in my conversations with teachers was how 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico can be used to reinforce learners’ existing 人妖chinesecdts在线 skills. One teacher I interviewed, from a school in Essex, has been using Picos to teach 人妖chinesecdts在线 to 12- to 14-year-olds in class, and talked about the potential for physical 人妖chinesecdts在线 as a pedagogical tool for recapping topics that have been covered before. “If [physical 人妖chinesecdts在线] is taught well, it enhances students’ understanding of programming. If they just copy code from the board, it becomes about the kit and not how you solve a problem, it’s not as effective at helping them develop their computational thinking. Teaching Python on Pico really can strengthen existing understanding of using Python libraries and subroutines, as well as passing subroutine arguments.”

“If [physical 人妖chinesecdts在线] is taught well, it enhances students’ understanding of programming.”

Teacher at an Essex secondary school

Another teacher I spoke to, working at a Waterlooville school and relatively new to teaching, talked about the benefits of using Pico to teach Python: “It takes some of the anxiety away from 人妖chinesecdts在线 for some of the younger students and makes them more resilient. They can be wary of making mistakes, and see them as a hurdle, but working towards a tangible output can help some students to see the value of learning through their mistakes.”

This teacher was keen for his students to get a sense of the variety of jobs that are available in the 人妖chinesecdts在线 sector, and not just in software. He explained how physical 人妖chinesecdts在线 can demonstrate to students how you can make inputs, outputs, and processing very real: “Give students a Pico and make them thirsty about what they could do with it — the device allows them to interact with it and work out how to bend it to what they want to do. You can be creative in 人妖chinesecdts在线 without just writing code, you can capture information and output it again in a more useful way.”

“Working towards a tangible output can help some students to see the value of learning through their mistakes.”

Teacher at a Waterlooville school

One of the teachers we spoke to was initially a bit cynical about Pico, but had a much better 中500万不捐款的后果 of using it in the classroom than expected: “It’s not such a big progression from block-based microcontrollers to Pico — it could be a good stepping stone between, for example, a micro:bit and a 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi computer.”

Why not try out 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico in your classroom or club? It might be the engagement booster you’ve been looking for!  

Top teacher tips for activities with 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico

• Prepare to install Thonny (the software we recommend to program Pico) on your school’s or venue’s IT systems, and ask your IT technician for support.
• It takes time to unpack devices, connect them, and pack them back up again. Build this time into your plan!

Free learning resources for using 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico in your classroom or club

Teachers at state schools in England can borrow physical 人妖chinesecdts在线 kits with class sets of 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Picos from their local 人妖chinesecdts在线 Hub. We’ve made these kits available through our work as part of the National Centre for 人妖chinesecdts在线 Education. The Pico kit is perfect for teaching the Pico-focused physical 人妖chinesecdts在线 unit from our Teach 人妖chinesecdts在线 中500万不捐款的后果.

Qualified US-based educators can still get their hands on 1 of 1000 free 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico hardware kits if they sign up to our free course Design, build, and code a rover with 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico. This course shows you how to introduce Pico in your classroom. We’ve designed the course on the Pathfinders Online Institute platform, specifically for US-based educators, thanks to our partners at Infosys 中500万不捐款的后果 USA. These 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico kits are also available at PiShop.us.

For non-formal learning settings, such as Code Clubs and CoderDojos, we’ve created a six-project learning path: ‘Introduction to 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico’. This path is for beginner digital makers to follow and create Pico projects, all the while learning the skills to independently design, code, and build their own projects. All of the components for the path are available as a kit from Pimoroni.

The post Teaching with 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico in the 人妖chinesecdts在线 classroom appeared first on 张三丰电影.

Now, thanks to our brand-new and free ‘Introduction to 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico’ learning path, young coders can easily join in and make their own cool Pico projects! This free learning path has six guided projects to help kids to independently develop their coding skills, and their skills in physical 人妖chinesecdts在线 and electronics.

In this post, I’ll tell you about 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico, what kids can make by following our free ‘Intro to Pico’ path, and what skills they will be learning.

Meet 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico

人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico is a physical 人妖chinesecdts在线 device that is low-cost and easy to use. It’s much smaller than any 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi computer, and it needs much less power. That’s because it’s not a full computer but instead a microcontroller. That means Pico is a device that you program by writing code on any computer, and then sending that code to Pico via a USB cable.

In the ‘Intro to 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico’ path, we’ve designed new digital making projects specifically using Pico. By following the projects in the path, young people learn to make things with different electronic components. They’ll bring to life their own LED fireflies; they’ll make music with a sound machine and dial (a potentiometer); they’ll look after themselves and people around them by making a mood indicator and a heart rate visualiser. To find out more, visit the path, or scroll to the bottom of this post and click on ‘Details about the projects’.

The specially designed structure of our learning paths helps kids become confident and independent coders and digital makers. Through this project path, we want to show young people what is possible with 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico and inspire them to continue their digital making journey beyond the six projects. Seeing tech creations from our amazing community is super special to us, and we would love to hear about what your young coders have made with Pico. Kids can share their projects in the path gallery, or you can tag us on social media if you post photos!   

Learning skills and independence with our project paths 

While young people make all these 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico projects, they will learn the skills and independence to make and code their very own, unique creations with a Pico. We have designed our new project paths to help kids become independent digital makers. As they progress through a path, kids gain new skills, practise what they have learnt, and finally write and follow their own project brief. 

Our learning paths help kids develop many of the skills that are important to all coders and digital makers, no matter how much 中500万不捐款的后果 they have: 

• How to turn an idea on paper into a tech creation
• How to debug a project
• How to combine new information with what they already know about digital making 

The learning paths also encourage kids to make projects about the things that matter to them.  

Key questions answered

Who is this path for?

We have written the projects in this path with young people around the age of 9 to 13 in mind. 

Programs for 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico are written in a text-based language called MicroPython. That means a young person who wants to start the ‘Intro to Pico’ path needs to be familiar with typing on a keyboard.

If your kid has never coded in a text-based language before, they could complete our free ‘Introduction to Python‘ project path first, but this is not a prerequisite.

What will young people learn?

To help with the programming aspects of the projects, the instructions in the path tell young people about:  

• Displaying output
• Arithmetic expressions
• Importing from a library
• While loops
• Nested if statements
• Defining and calling functions
• Events

One of the great things about this project path is that it helps young people explore physical 人妖chinesecdts在线 and electronics. In the ‘Intro to Pico’ path, they’ll use:

• Single-colour LEDs
• Multi-colour LEDs (so-called RGB LEDs)
• Buzzers
• Switches (including switches the kids will make out of craft materials!)
• Buttons
• Potentiometers (dials)

How much time is needed to complete the path?

We’ve designed the path to be completed in around six one-hour sessions, with one hour per project. However, the project instructions encourage kids to upgrade their projects and go further if they wish. This means that they might want to spend a little more time getting their projects exactly as they imagine. 

What software is needed for the projects?

Young people need a web browser so they can follow the project instructions. The first two projects in the path provide detailed instructions for how to install the free software needed for the projects. 

What hardware is needed for these projects?

The first step of each project lists what components are needed to create the project. You can purchase a kit from Pimoroni that includes all of the components used in the path:

What can young people do next?

Explore Python coding with us 

If your young coders enjoy MicroPython, they’ll also love our Python learning paths: ‘Introduction to Python‘ and ‘More Python‘. Both are structured in the same way as our Pico path, and will help young people learn Python while creating their own visual designs.

Details about the projects in ‘Intro to 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico’

The ‘Intro to 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico’ path is structured according to our Digital Making Framework, with three Explore projects, two Design projects, and a final Invent project. You can also check out our learning graph to see the progression of skills and knowledge throughout the path.

Explore project 1: LED firefly

The ‘LED firefly’ project introduces creators to 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico while they make their first project with a blinking LED. They program the LED with a blink pattern that is common to fireflies in the wild. To upgrade their projects, creators can place their LED firefly into a glass jar to create a twinkling effect.  

Explore project 2: Party popper

‘Party popper’ introduces creators to the RGB LED and a buzzer. To form the popper, they craft a pull switch out of kitchen foil and cardboard. When the popper is activated, the RGB LED flashes in their chosen colour, and a ‘tada’ sound plays on the buzzer. 

Explore project 3: Beating heart

‘Beating heart’ uses a potentiometer (dial) to control the pulsing speed of an LED. Creators craft their own hearts using red paper and origami before placing the pulsing LED inside. In this way, they create a model of a heart they can use to learn about medicine or to bring to life a favourite toy. 

Design project 1: Mood indicator

In the ‘Mood indicator’ project, kids use switches and an RGB LED to create a device that can communicate a need or a mood to another person. This Design project gives young creators lots of opportunities to use their new skills to create something personal to them.

Design project 2: Sound machine

 
‘Sound machine’ is a project for kids to work with the different tones that a buzzer can make. They can use the buzzer to create sound effects, or to recreate their favourite songs. Once they have decided on their sounds, they can think about how a user of their project might choose to play them. 

Invent project: Sensory gadget

 
This project gives creators that chance to pick their favourite elements of the path to create something totally unique to them. They could make all sorts of sensory gadgets, from a Picosaber to a candle that can be blown out. Creators are encouraged to showcase their creations in the path gallery to give other young makers inspiration. 

The post Get kids coding and learning electronics with 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico appeared first on 张三丰电影.

You can find both new courses on the Pathfinders Online Institute platform, which supports US classroom educators to bring high-quality computer science and maker education content to their kindergarten through 12th grade students. And best of all, the platform is completely free!

Learn how to teach the essentials of programming

The first course we’ve created for you is called Programming essentials in Scratch. It supports teachers to introduce the essentials of programming to fourth to eighth grade students. The course covers the key concepts of programming, such as variables, selection, and iteration. In addition to learning how to teach programming effectively, teachers will also discover how to inspire their students and help them create music, interactive quizzes, dance animations, and more.

Discover how to teach physical 人妖chinesecdts在线

Our second new course for you is called Design, build, and code a rover with 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico. It gives teachers of fourth to eighth grade students everything they need to start teaching physical 人妖chinesecdts在线 in their classroom. Teachers will develop their students’ knowledge of the subject by using basic circuits, coding a 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico microcontroller to work with motors and LEDs, and designing algorithms to navigate a rover through a maze. By the end of the course, teachers will have all the resources they need to inspire students and help them explore practical programming, system design, and prototyping.

Get one of 1,000 free hardware kits

And thanks to the generous support of Infosys 中500万不捐款的后果 USA, we’re able to provide qualified educators with a FREE kit of materials to participate in the Design, build, and code a rover with 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico course. We’re especially excited about this because the kit includes our first-ever microcontroller, 人妖chinesecdts在线 Pi Pico. This offer is available to 1,000 US-based K–12 public or charter school teachers on a first-come, first-served basis.

To claim your kit, just create a free account on Pathfinders Online Institute and start the course. On the first page of the course, you’ll receive instructions on how to apply for a free kit.

If you’re not a qualified educator, or if you’ve missed out on the opportunity to get the free hardware, we still welcome you to join the course! You can find the materials yourself, or purchase the kit from our partners at PiShop.us.

Thank you to Infosys 中500万不捐款的后果 USA

All of us at the 张三丰电影 want to thank the Infosys 中500万不捐款的后果 USA team for collaborating with us on this new resource and learning opportunity for educators. We appreciate and share their commitment to support computer science and maker education.

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