More micro:bits

We had a play with our micro:bits again this week. This time we decided to experiment with the code and see what we could come up with.

This is the visual code for an interactive badge that responds to button presses.

If we were to write this code as text it would look like this. The 1’s and 0’s tell the micro:bit which LEDs to turn on(1) or off(0).

The micro:bit makes it really easy for us to make other things too. Darcey found out that this code would create a happy dice.

The text code to write a dice program is really simple.

The output is a fully working LED dice, so we can easily use our micro:bits as a replacement next time we can’t find the snakes & ladders dice at home!

Interactive badges

We began our Micro:bit journey by creating some interactive badges to wear. The children coded the micro:bits to show a different image:

• on start up
• when button A was pressed
• when button B was pressed

Below are a few examples of Darcey’s ‘D’ , Bobby’s googley eyes, Daisy’s happy face and love heart.

The micro:bits program runs either when connected to a computer or via a battery pack so we can take our badges with us wherever we go … except to the swimming pool!

The end and new beginnings

In our final session before half term everyone worked to complete and enhance their favourite games so far. We saw lots of very different games produced and some great teamwork from people who finished first.

We’ve produced lots of animations and games over the last few weeks but it was lovely to have an end of term showcase where everyone submitted their favourite finished project. You can see some of the games in our Scratch studio https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/1883020/projects

So, what’s next? We’re moving on from Scratch for a while as we’re excited to welcome a group of very cute looking BBC Micro:bits. (no fighting over the green one!)

The BBC Micro:bits are awesome little devices which will enable us to make a broad range of projects. We’ll start with the Code Club projects using the Code Kingdoms editor and see where it takes us, these little guys have not been widely dispatched yet so we’re definitely guinea pigs but I’m sure everyone will enjoy the challenge. You can find out more about the BBC Micro:bit here https://www.microbit.co.uk and bonus points for anyone who can find out about the BBC Micro (clue : it was big in the 1980s!)

The best laid plans

New term of Code Club checklist …..

1) Anticipation – moving on to not 1 but 2 new languages

2) Preparation – Python installed, Code Kingdoms user names set up

3) Backup – If Python hasn’t been installed correctly we’ll do Code Kingdoms

4) Backup backup – If Code Kingdoms can’t open we’ll go back to Scratch

Everything was good to go….except the laptops which again failed us. No Python, no internet, no Scratch backup 😦 so we’ve been delayed for a week. Looking at it from a positive view we at least now have a set of lovely colourful Code Club posters to put up.

Away from our Code Club sessions a couple of our members signed on at home and created some lovely football related Scratch Animations ahead of the World Scratch Day event at the National Football Museum in Manchester. Thanks to Hadi & Kayla for their hard work, I’m looking forward to seeing the animations on show at the museum. Check out their creations for yourself here https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/1112522 and of course feel free to add your own too.

Just like buses!

Today I’ve been getting things ready for our first session back and this time it’s all change with not one but two new languages being introduced! In the main next term we’ll be using Python a popular programming language with both schools and organisations. To get you excited about why Python is a great language to learn here are some quotes from organisations you may have heard of…

YouTube.com

“Python is fast enough for our site and allows us to produce maintainable features in record times, with a minimum of developers,” said Cuong Do, Software Architect, YouTube.com.

Google

“Python has been an important part of Google since the beginning, and remains so as the system grows and evolves. Today dozens of Google engineers use Python, and we’re looking for more people with skills in this language.” said Peter Norvig, director of search quality at Google, Inc.

Industrial Light & Magic

“Python plays a key role in our production pipeline. Without it a project the size of Star Wars: Episode II would have been very difficult to pull off. From crowd rendering to batch processing to compositing, Python binds all things together,” said Tommy Burnette, Senior Technical Director, Industrial Light & Magic.

“Python is everywhere at ILM. It’s used to extend the capabilities of our applications, as well as providing the glue between them. Every CG image we create has involved Python somewhere in the process,” said Philip Peterson, Principal Engineer, Research & Development, Industrial Light & Magic.

In addition to Python we’ll also be using Code Kingdoms an online coding game that teaches programming and computational thinking in a really fun way. We’ll learn to build and protect our lands with puzzles coded in JavaScript using resources put together specifically for Code Clubs.

See you next week.