British Broadcasting Corporation brainchild of a microprocessor card will be introduced dozens of new schools in Finland. A small processor card for use in teaching programming in 15 schools across the Finnish, autumn starting co-operation of schools will be 50 more.

In Finland, University of Helsinki is involved through Innokas (Eager) Network. Co-operation means, among other things, large-scale experiments examining their functionality.

University of Helsinki, Faculty of Education, Eager Network was selected Micro: bits partner for Finnish schools for the tip. With his enthusiasm has a strong network of interested of digital technology in educational use and development of teachers.

” Our pilots during the avid Network conducts research on how teachers and children work and what students ages Micro: bit is best suited for, ”

Finnish curriculum of digital technology fits very well, but user-friendly for teachers teaching tools are missing. Therefore, often the enthusiasm fall apart easily. With simple tools, for example, students learn to program, build robots and create music.

Source: http://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2017/04/11/bbcn-korttimikro-tulee-voimalla-suomalaiskouluihin/

Supporting schoolchildren digital teaching the BBC Micro: bit PC card will be piloted in Espoo, Finland. The project is supported by the BBC Micro: bit Foundation leader Zach Shelby in addition to Etteplan’s IoT, Vice President of Jaakko Ala-Paavola and educational organization Mehackit.

Great Britain has been since March 2016, divided into about a million persons studying in the seventh grade schoolchildren BBC Micro: bit computer board. Now supporting educational projects in British Foundation will help the Finnish secondary schools with Mehackit-company training.

“It’s been amazing to see the enthusiasm of the students’ and teachers’ ‘, Ala-Paavola says. He believes that the platform enables the programming interface for other subjects teaching.

Source: http://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2016/10/26/bbcn-korttimikroa-pilotoidaan-espoossa/

BBC micro:bit
https://developer.mbed.org/platforms/Microbit/

The BBC describe the micro:bit as a pocket-sized, codable computer that allows children to get creative with technology. Made possible through a major partnership with 28 organisations, up to 1 million micro:bits will be given away, one to every 11 or 12 year old child in year 7 or equivalent across the UK, for free.

The BBC micro:bit is based on the mbed HDK. The target MCU is a Nordic nRF51822 with 16K RAM, 256K Flash. As well as the nRF51822 there’s also an onboard accelerometer and magnetometer from Freescale.

micro:bit Device Abstraction Layer (DAL)

Lancaster University have written a full abstraction of the hardware on the micro:bit, based on mbed. This is used by the higher level languages provided by the BBC and is perfect for creating projects in mbed that use the various pieces of hardware on the micro:bit.

Computers have made it much easier for musicians to perform and produce music, even in really simple ways.

What we’re making
For this make, you will need:

A micro:bit and USB cable (like, obviously)
A battery pack
A piezo buzzer
Connecting wires or crocodile clips

Fancy mechanical metronomes have a large swinging arm so you can see and hear when the beat is, as well as make the tempo faster or slower.
Our micro:bitronome should do the same thing:

Make a noise and show an image on every beat
Be able to speed up or slow down the tempo
Be able to reset the tempo back to normal

Let’s get coding!
So, which coding engine should we use? Microsoft Blocks and Microsoft Touch Develop have functions to make the micro:bit play sounds but Python has a music module that lets us do all kinds of fun things with tempo.
Let’s open up the Python coding engine and get started.

For our metronome we definitely need to establish a tempo. I want to set the tempo at 120 beats per minute (or two beats per second). It’s a popular tempo for pop and dance songs!

We have our code, but our micro:bit can’t play music on its own – we need to attach a buzzer to the golden input/output pins at the bottom of the micro:bit.

Using wire or crocodile clips, attach one end of the buzzer to Pin 0 and the other end to the GND pin.

https://www.microbit.co.uk/app/#list:installed-scripts:script:5381bcac-ccbc-4dda-3398-e5c81c8f895d:overview:id=nybxyk

https://www.microbit.co.uk/

It’s been a long wait, but our latest single board computer for review is finally here! The BBC micro:bit, given free to every seventh-grade British child, has landed at Hackaday courtesy of a friend in the world of education. It’s been a year of false starts and delays for the project, but schools started receiving shipments just before the Easter holidays, pupils should begin lessons with them any time now, and you might even be able to buy one for yourself by the time this article goes to press.

Micro Bit computer becomes a commercial product
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36416862

The BBC Micro Bit, the tiny computing device designed to get children coding, is going on sale to the general public.

The device is already being delivered, free, to one million Year 7 children in schools across the UK.

Now it will also be available to buy from the various partners in the project for £12.99.

The firm says it will only sell them in batches of 90.

But retailers including Microsoft, the Technology Will Save Us organisation and Sciencescope will offer individual devices.

“It’s going to be huge,” he told me.”We’ve already got a pipeline of orders including foreign governments who’ve seen what has happened in the UK.”

The Micro Bit was meant to be the flagship of the BBC’s Make It Digital season last year but suffered a number of delays. It started arriving in schools this spring and the BBC says it has now been delivered to about 80% of schools and roughly 750,000 Year 7 children (11 and 12-year olds).

BBC Micro:bit computer now available to all for £13
Allowing anyone to learn the basics of coding and computing.
http://www.engadget.com/2016/05/31/bbc-microbit-preorders/

After a couple of unforeseen delays, the BBC finally began delivering Micro:bit computers to Year 7 students across the UK in March. With the objective of distributing free microcomputers to an entire year group nearing completion — around 80 percent of schools have received theirs to date — it’s time to let anyone else with an interest in coding loose on the little device. Pre-orders open today at element14, which manufactures the palm-sized ‘puters, Microsoft’s online store and many other resellers, with the first shipments expected in July.

A lone Micro:bit costs £13, while a starter bundle with battery pack, USB cable and a handful of introductory activities goes for £15

The Micro:bit is small microcomputer with programmable buttons, an LED array, various sensors, several I/O rings and Bluetooth connectivity.

Developed by the BBC with the help of many partners including Microsoft, Samsung and ARM, it was initially intended to introduce children to the basics of coding and computing.

A tiny programmable board designed as part of an educational initiative for UK kids to learn programming skills and originally distributed by the public service broadcaster, the BBC, to one million schoolchildren is now up for public pre-order. The micro:bit is available for public pre-order in the UK, via Element14′s website, with delivery slated for July.

BBC micro:bit – GET CREATIVE, GET CONNECTED, GET CODING
http://uk.farnell.com/bbc-microbit?rd=micro%253Abit&selectedCategoryId=&categoryNameResp=All%2BCategories