Tag Archives: #microbit

Good Health and Well-being with the help of Artificial Intelligence and the BBC Micro: bit

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Introduction

School: 2nd Primary School of Nea Erythraia, Athens, Greece
Teacher: Georgia Lascaris
Class: 6th Grade (11 to 12 years old)
Implementation period: March 2021

Goal: Solving real world problems for Sustainable Development Goal 3 Good Health and Well-being” with the help of technology: coding, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence – Machine Learning

Abstract

New technologies as Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things and smart mobile devices are already influencing and shaping every aspect of our daily lives and can be a powerful ally to help us with real global problems.
Through the European eTwinning program “Micro Circuits for Mega Solutions”, with the participation of schools from Greece, Croatia, Turkey, Spain and Latvia, the 6rth grade students from the Primary School of Nea Erythraia, Athens, Greece, are introduced to the basic concepts of:
a) coding using BBC Micro: bit (palm-sized computer )
b) The Internet of Things (IoT) 
c) Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
d) 17 Sustainable Development Goals

Through fun, collaborative and interdisciplinary activities, they dreamed, designed, coded, and implemented applications to simulate smart devices that could be a solution to real global problems and improve people’s daily lives. By understanding the way those new technologies work, they could realize their possibilities as well as their limits and how to use them for good (Technology for Good).

After schools’ closure because of the Covi19 pandemic, these activities were implemented through synchronous  and asynchronous distance education (Webex, eclass) using online tools such as breakout rooms, micro: bit MakeCode platform, Web2.0 simulators…. 

In March, all our activities were based on Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Wellness as the Covid19 pandemic reminded us in the harshest way of how valuable good physical and mental health are.

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BBC Micro:bit to help Children with Rare Diseases

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General Informations:

School: 2nd Primary School of Nea Erythraia, Athens, Greece
Class: 5th grade (10 to 11 years old)
Teacher: Georgia Lascaris
Implementation dates: 15/2/2021-19/2/2021
Subject: interdisciplinary, ICT and Computer Science

Introduction

This activity was part of the European programs Erasmus+ KA3, “Teachers For Europe: setting an Agora for Democratic Culture” and eTwinning “Teachers For Europe: Democratic Values ​​in the Era of Artificial Intelligence“. It aimed not only to raise awareness about children with rare diseases but also to involve the students to use the technology (BBC Micro:bit) to create real-life solutions for those children.
This activity was implemented synchronously and asynchronously (Webex, e-class) during Covid19 schools’ closure, using web2.0 tools and the micro:bit Classroom tool.

Implementation

First,  the students, through a variety of activities, became aware of the issue of rare diseases through videos and testimonials, created flyers with supporting messages and collaborated with their classmates from other schools across Europe through a digital board – Rare Disease Day 2021.

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Let’s code together at home

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Author: Selçuk Yusuf Arslan

Online Coding Training? Why not?

The pandemic process has been a process when education systems are rapidly taking action all over the world. Countries quickly began distance education activities. We were encouraged to organise activities for the 2020 STEM Discovery Campaign online, using SOMR (Scientix Online Meeting Room). In this process, I decided to do an online event with the Ministry of Education of Muğla Province. I was asked if I could do STEM applications by teaching coding online. Even it sounds good, it was interesting to do a “hands-on” activity online. Why not? We could do it.

Can simulators be used for this?

I started planning it right away. I could use simulators in distance education to make robotic coding with teachers. I chose micro:bit. There was a few advantages of BBC’s intiative and popular microcomputer micro:bits;

  • I could use the simulator thanks to Microsoft Makecode. Teachers participating in distance education could also get a chance to try, even if they didn’t have micro:bit.
  • Micro:bit is a good choice, especially for teachers who do not have previous coding experience because they are block-based.
  • By posting a video on YouTube, many teachers could watch me and get a chance to try, even ask questions online. I could also reach a lot of teachers offline; not only online but also offline after the broadcast.
  • At the end of the training, I could encourage teachers by making a simple STEM application.
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STEaM micro:bit

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This workshop was held on April 25th at Primary school “Sreten Mladenovic Mika”, Nis, Serbia as a part of join activities within NiSTEaM initiative of Scientix Ambassadors from the city of Nis for taking part in SDW 2019. It is an introduction to coding and computer science by way of making and design, using the revolutionary new micro:bit micro controller board, and Microsoft’s easy and powerful MakeCode block-based coding environment. It is a project-based curriculum with a maker philosophy at its core; the idea is that by making physical objects, students create a context for learning the coding and computer science concepts.

We found that existing curriculum for beginners focused mostly on solving math problems or constructing geometric shapes and that there was a certain type of student that signed up for computer science classes and these students were almost always boys. We wondered whether a different approach to teaching the basics of computer programming would be more engaging and also attract a larger variety of different types of students, both boys and girls.

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