BBC gives children mini-computers in Make it Digital scheme
m.bbc.co.uk
m.bbc.co.uk
Like many other now 30 year olds in the UK, I grew up hacking games on a BBC Micro my school had, my family couldn't afford a decent machine at home so it was my only introduction to computers. And before the BBC Micro, most schools couldn't afford a set of computers either. It allowed us to learn to code in the lunch breaks, after school. It seriously drove many UK kids to code and now having a happy career in computing.
Now kids will get a similar, even more personal introduction to computing in an age of tap-and-swipe computing.
I for one applaud the decision!
How about we skip the BBC, let schools purchase Raspberry Pi's as they desire and claim directly from a government fund (this I would certainly support)
If its anything like their contract IT spending they probably paid more than market rate too...
But that would imply the funds come from the Treasury from general taxation/borrowing - which seems unlikely in this age of austerity.
The BBC arguably has a lot more freedom to do this kind of thing given its main revenue source is its own hypothecated tax in the form of the license fee.
Good on them I say - at least they are doing something interesting rather than the usual nonsense we hear about education directly from politicians.
^(The "bedroom tax" is much worse in impact but not technically a tax)
You don't have to pay for a license to watch catchup/previously broadcast programmes on iPlayer, DVD's, Netflix etc.
Hard to compete against pre-packaged products if it's less usable than the Rpi even if it's free.
[0] http://www.raspberrypi.org/help/what-is-a-raspberry-pi/ and http://www.raspberrypi.org/about/
Let's hope this initiative interests kids not exposed to this level of computing to then go on to buy Rpi's, learn how to use a command line, install an IDE, make a web site, or whatever else.
It's the gateway to computing aspect that's important here, not the longevity of the platform.
Rather than throw electronics at all kids and see which ones it sticks to they could make the Microbit freely available to that particular year group - all you need do is reach out your hand and take it. Then the 1 in 10, or whatever, that bother to try it can be bought a RPi with the savings. If you can't even be bothered to pick one up at your school library or send an email saying "yes please" and have it handed to you in class then the chances of you watching TV programs to learn how to use it are probably about nil.
Say this was sport, would you buy every kid a rugby ball? If you just buy enough so that everyone who wants one can get it then those that want to play rugby can have kit paid for too.
Good point, didn't see this as a gateway to further computing.
I like the fractal nature of this. RPi was an Cambridge undergrad intro to computing. Now the Micro Bits a primary/secondary audience who might use it as a stepping stone to an RPi.
With the BBC Micro and other computers of that era (I got started in computing with a ZX Spectrum), you could start using the machine _almost_ straight away (you still needed some accessories, like a TV). I think you're referring to that simplicity and how easy it was to get started. Switch it on and start typing BASIC!
This prototype (at least) looks like is a microcontroller board, like the Arduino (uses the same MCU as the Leonardo; although Michael Sparks from BBC R&D has mentioned on Twitter that the final model probably won't be based on that MCU and they have designs based on ATmega, ARM and MSP430).
That means you're going to need a computer to program it and there are few concepts you need to understand to get started. Not as easy as "switch on and program" :(
This is interesting indeed, but I honestly think it isn't comparable to the BBC Micro (or even the Raspberry Pi).
Sure, its not comparable in terms of richness or depth of a machine to the Micro, but then all schools have PCs now. Its just they're used for Office and learning how to be safe online. Not for coding.
Let's hope kids then start asking their teachers how to do more than blink some lights, and ask their teachers to learn how to build websites, apps etc. Then it'll be a success.
It's just too damn hard to use for most kids. By the time they've worked their way around the Linux command line and file permissions, a big percentage have lost interest. (Yes, this is based on experience, from friends who are trying to use it in classrooms.)
It's good that the Pi Foundation is making an effort to produce educational materials. But IMO they should have worked much harder on initial usability, with a simple task-driven desktop that pointed kids straight at coding and web design.
With the old 8-bit micros you could start coding immediately. The Pi is nothing like that. The effort/reward function is off for all but the very brightest kids.
As for the Micro Bit - as you say, it looks a bit like the BBC's take on Arduino. I guess success is going to depend on the software environment, which is something that no one seems to have much information about yet.
I'm concerned that C++ is included, because that wouldn't be my first choice as a teaching language. But Python is too, and there's a custom language for beginners, so it may all work out.
They got it wrong write from step 1. The default raspian makes you pick a distro, then you have to log in (hope you're in front of the manual) then boot your own desktop environment with `startx`.
The Pi should be plug in -> boot to desktop with an icon for the manual, examples, scratch and the python repl. From that you get doing something and there's the carrot to have a reason to find out what other things it can do.
The choices are important but they've got no context until the pi is doing something in front of you.
This board is going to be great for the Pi. It fixes that first step. You make this board do a thing for you and ask "How can I connect two of them up" or "I want the to work while I'm away". Enter the pi to replace your laptop your developing on. Now you have a reason to learn how to leave it unattended.
At that time, the emotional ROI was higher - in a couple days you could write a game almost as good as Namco's Pac Man port (audio on the II was a bitch, however). Today, a commercial game consumes usually multiple millions of dollars and teams of dozens of multi-disciplinary professionals. All but casual games are mostly beyond the grasp of a kid learning to program.
Not only we need cheap, simple, computers, but we need something that entices kids to program. What will they want to build?
The games they create are not slick but they're sophisticated enough that the kids are learning how to work through real programming problems on their own resources. And the kids evidently find this very rewarding and addictive.
Compared to that they find even Lego Mindstorms kind of dull. The social aspect of Scratch is a brilliant touch.
The comparison to existing platforms is being made because platforms matter. 30 years ago there were no deemed adequate platforms so the BBC had to build their own. Today there is at least the Pi and the Arduino, as well as the Lilypad wearables series. Creating a new platform for the sake of it dilutes effort rather than strengthening it.
I'm concerned that this is the domestic equivalent of a fly-by-night aid initiative, that drops in a whole bunch of resources and expensive personnel for a year or two then vanishes.
When the original BBC Micro came out they could have easily based their programming around the Spectrum or other computer than was in the market.
Now when there are already credible alternatives in the micro market - Arduino, Pi etc. - they choose to have their own 'designed'.
I suppose I should be happy that they're spending the license money I'm forced to pay on this rather than crap like Eastenders.
Fundementally it show the BBC with it's soft funding is out of control and looking for a purpose.
(and the Beeb was released before the Speccy anyhow)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Live#Hacking_incident
> The first one-off special was the subject of a memorable hacking incident. Ian McNaught-Davis and John Coll logged into the programme's BT Gold email account to demonstrate the features of the then relatively new idea of email, only to find that the account had been hacked. Shortly before air, the floor manager had informed Ian McNaught-Davis the password for the account, unfortunately while his microphone was live. Visiting computer guests, who were in the Green Room, overheard this information and immediately telephoned a friendly hacker, who proceeded to use the information to get into the account.
Programming really just boils down to loops, ifs and subroutines. The tricky bit isn't explaining how to construct programs, it's the individual making the leap and working out how to compose it to create new functionality, express abstract concepts etc. Everyone can get the mechanical first bit, not everyone can makes the leap, but it's a great idea to get every young person to at least try.
What's needed is the simplest possible platform that allows the expression and execution of programs, coupled with simple and compelling input and output (everyone loves LEDs). No distractions.
I started programming on a BBC Micro as a child. You got a BASIC command line by default and a simple text and graphics screen. Nothing else to distract you. Nothing to break, and zero barrier to entry, so you could experiment without fear. I think it was the ideal environment to learn on, and I honestly think that they should still make machines like that.
I think was only co-incidence that state-of-the-art was also just-right-for-children (and also sufficiently extensible to to more interesting things), and that's what made the 80s/90s a bit of a golden age (at least in the UK).
I'm not sure what I'd do if I had to teach programming to an eight-year-old child today. Probably a LISP / Clojure REPL (and have to deal with the child being teased in the playground for not having mutable state). I've heard people say "everyone has web browser with JavaScript" but that's already too many moving parts and too much to think about when you just want to talk about if statements without distractions.
This MicroBit looks absolutely ideal. It's also kind of shaped like an owl, which is a brilliant echo of the BBC Micro logo.
A lot of people will say "Why isn't this a RaspberryPi?", but I think you only have to stop and imagine the power of getting an 11 year old to build a wearable device that scrolls their name or shows a symbol they chose (smiling face, for example) to realize how much that could spark imagination and curiosity.
I own multiple RaspberryPis and have actually used Scratch on one. It's nice but it takes a hell of a lot of set up and the programming environment is restrictive.
The LEDs on this device will be what makes it fly because anyone can suddenly think "Now, what could I make those little lights do". You don't get the same effect with a Pi.
The pictures I've seen show the CPU as an ATMEL Mega32U4: http://www.atmel.com/devices/atmega32u4.aspx
> And the Micro Bit can even connect and communicate with these other devices, including Arduino, Galileo, Kano and Raspberry Pi, as well as other Micro Bits
In fairness this is really just a press release, not a news item. The tone and technical content of the release suggests quite probably that it is not written by one of their technology hacks (and by that I mean journalists such as Rory Cellan-Jones). Rather it's a management level tech summary or proposal packaged up for PR use.
(Not a minicomputer, it seems to take up half a building, but this will definitely satisfy you :)
One of my favorite bits of video ever. I'd love to know what some of those kids got up to in later life.
EDIT: I forgot how great this is. One of the boys wrote his own interpreter!
oh, and their debug routine...
Hopefully will be able to pick some of these up to use with my own (younger) kids despite them saying they're not going to make them further available.
Der Blinken lights though, who would not want one!
>BBC Learning's Gareth Stockdale, who is developing the device, said: "The BBC's role is to bring focus to the issue, and then we will withdraw from the market."
>After the first million Micro Bits go out to schools there will be no more. //
Doesn't sound like the way to build a learning platform to me.
>"With a dedicated season of programming on the BBC, 5,000 digital trainees, one million children who take their first steps with a Micro Bit, and a host of educational activity, we hope to inspire a new generation to get creative with digital," said Jessica Cecil, controller of Make it Digital. //
You can lead a horse to water, as the aphorism goes. One million "Micro Bits" given out doesn't mean the same number of kids will use them unless. Even if they're introduced in to school curricula then you're not going to have a 100% take-up.
Aargh. That pretty much guarantees it's a platform that's sinking from day 1. Unless they're smart enough to open source the whole thing so they can be freely cloned. It's as if they learned nothing from the Domesday Book (brilliant tech dead-end of the 80s).
If they could open source it then it could live post Beeb.
Now I've read the article, I tend to agree. The article is light on information. This description of the hardware seems contradictory to the aims of the RPi.
The Raspberry Pi is a low cost, credit-card sized
computer that plugs into a computer monitor or TV,
and uses a standard keyboard and mouse. It is a
capable little device that enables people of all
ages to explore computing, and to learn how to
program in languages like Scratch and Python.
It’s capable of doing everything you’d expect a
desktop computer to do, from browsing the Internet
and playing high-definition video, to making
spreadsheets, word-processing, and playing
games. [0]
You don't appear to have factored in project costs to your <$5. They mention only one person working on it but they already started promoting it so are definitely using more resources than that - assuming a 2 year project for 6 at a guesstimate "BBC tech guy" rate of £40k [2 x 6 x 40 = 480k + 50% for costs of employment (a very low estimate)] you're looking at ~75p ($1.10) per item.
Buying in a board then the personnel costs are in the price; doing it in house and you need to add them on (along with overheads and accommodation and ...). Heck, the DG spent a day on it for the launch then that's an extra £2k on the costs.
Most UK secondary schools probably have a teacher who's used RPi or Arduino for something. That's a massive factor to take in to account if you want to actually use the device for a serious educational effort too.
The whole package seems good but it just smacks a bit too much of wanting to promote the BBC/ARM/Google/Samsung/... project a bit more than perhaps doing the right thing educationally? Better this than nothing.
---
[1] http://community.arm.com/groups/internet-of-things/blog/2015...
I personally learned (in the 80's) on a similar microcontroller-sized machine (z80 & 6502) at a younger age than this is aimed at and reaped the benefits...
Hopefully ARM based rather than AVR, but if not, its still the right approach IMO.
ARM, Freescale and Nordic Semiconductor are partners of the project. While the chip in the photo appears to be Atmel (my eyesight may be failing me here), the material seems to suggest that the design is still being worked out, so an ARM device seems likely.
Fingers crossed.
As much good as Arduino has done for the Maker community, the AVR architecture is outdated.
While the Arduino did great things, I don't really see much point in continuing with 8-bit MCUs as hobbyist platforms. ST's Nucleo boards, for example, are far more powerful and very cheap at only $10. They also support the mbed platform with its online compiler, which makes it pretty easy to get started with. There's still a lot of room for improvement in the software, though.
Plug it into your computer, write your code on your computer and then push it out to the micro bit, to control the onboard LEDs.
Still, I'll look forward to having a play around with these with my Year 7s in September.
How does a 'drama based on GTA' help at all?
Think of all the children who today learn Microsoft Office. They have been trained, not to be users of computers, but to be customers of a single platform.
They are trained to be customers of a single platform that many jobs (all of the ads I looked at recently) specifically require skills in. I am a big open source fan, but until businesses start asking for people proficient in any office suite then I recommend schools stick with MS Office.
I was saddened to see the plans for a drama based on Grand Theft Auto as being part of it though - surely a drama based on beating people up, stealing cars and shooting people isn't a great thing to be promoting to youngsters? Who thinks these things up? Are they going to be showing this to 11 year olds too? A great future generation we'll have to look forward to then!
This is of course nothing like the RPi. You board has a grid of LEDs that you can control by uploading a program which you write on a regular PC. When we tried it, we were coding in a Scratch like environment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minicomputer
I was totally expecting something more like the video where they take kids born in 2000 and show them a VCR.
If you want to make a small electronic gadget, something like a microcontroller makes more sense, as it'd be _much_ lower power than a Pi.
And additionally you could generate more accurate timing signals for things like VGA etc, than with a Pi.