Last week saw the launch of a new non-profit micro:bit Educational Foundation to build on the success of the BBC’s micro:bit and to encourage more young people to develop their digital skills.
The impact of the micro:bit has been significant; users have visited the website over 13m times, used the code simulator nearly 10m times and compiled code onto their devices nearly 2m times.
According to Gareth Stockdale, Head of Operations at BBC Learning: “the BBC micro:bit is making a real difference to children’s lives.”
And, as part of research carried out on behalf of the new Foundation, it was found that there have been some very positive behavioural changes amongst students who have used the micro:bit.
Crucially, among girls 39 percent said that they would now take ICT/computing science as an option, up from 23 percent previously; while among all students 86 percent said that it had made computer science more interesting, while 88 percent found coding was now less difficult than had previously been the case.
From small acorns…….
