Amy Trask, the Librarian at Beaufort Middle School, dreamed of a creative way to teach the valuable skill of coding to her students. Her project “Coding with Microbits” received a School Resource Grant from the Foundation with the support of the Friends of Callawassie Island to make her dream a reality.
What’s a Microbit? They are basically pocket sized computers that the students program to make and communicate with one another. The students used Microbits to code. The possibilities are endless.
In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, learning to code at a young age has become increasingly vital. Introducing children to programming early not only equips them with a critical skill set for the future but also fosters problem-solving abilities, logical thinking, and creativity.
According to Trask, the students loved the Microbits! To get started, they used the lessons on the Microbits website, but they were eventually able to extend the learning by making up their own code. Trask said she was amazed that the students caught on so quickly.
The students used their tablets to create the code and then plugged it into the Microbit to transfer the code to the Microbit. Once the code is on the Microbit and it is programmed, the Microbit starts answering their commands. Some commands created sounds (music even!) and light shows. They also discovered how to make the Microbits communicate with each other. The students loved that!
Plans for the future include using the devices to learn to code in different languages like Scratch and Python.
Trask said that she was blown away at how inventive the students were and the original ideas they came up with on their own once they learned how to code them. Students used the Microbits in the school’s MakerSpace which meant they had other options to explore. But the majority of the student chose to work on the Microbits.
Trask felt that the project gave the students confidence in coding which can be quite a complicated skill. The students were able to learn a very simple coding language so that the learning was gradual which created a solid foundation of understanding to build on.
Coding empowers young minds to understand and shape the technology that influences their daily lives, providing a foundation for innovation and adaptability in an ever-changing world. By starting to learn code early, kids can build a strong grasp of digital literacy, opening doors to numerous opportunities in various fields.
Students at Beaufort Middle School will be well-prepared for the demands of the modern workforce thanks to the grant provided by the Foundation and the generosity of the Friends of Callawassie Island for funding this valuable project.
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