{"id":504521,"date":"2018-09-07T07:55:27","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T14:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/?post_type=msr-research-item&p=504521"},"modified":"2020-03-16T10:15:46","modified_gmt":"2020-03-16T17:15:46","slug":"creating-cool-stuff-pupils-experience-of-the-bbc-microbit","status":"publish","type":"msr-research-item","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/publication\/creating-cool-stuff-pupils-experience-of-the-bbc-microbit\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cCreating Cool Stuff\u201d: Pupils\u2019 Experience of the BBC micro:bit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The recent introduction of computer science (CS) education into schools in many countries has led to a surge in interest in programming tools and approaches which make CS concepts and tasks engaging, motivating and accessible to all. There is renewed interest in supporting learning through physical computing, which has been shown to be motivational whilst offering opportunities for collaboration and creativity. Within this context the BBC recently led a collaborative venture in the UK to develop a portable and low-cost programmable device. The consortium funded and produced one million devices, enough for every 11-12 year-old in the UK. In this paper, we report on what we believe to be the first study to investigate the usability and affordances of the BBC micro:bit. We interviewed 15 teachers and 54 pupils in schools in England about their experiences with the device who were, in general, enthusiastic about the potential of the BBC micro:bit. We describe pupils’ experiences in terms of usability, creativity, the tangibility of the device and their learning of programming, and analyse their experiences in the context of previously reported benefits of physical computing.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The recent introduction of computer science (CS) education into schools in many countries has led to a surge in interest in programming tools and approaches which make CS concepts and tasks engaging, motivating and accessible to all. There is renewed interest in supporting learning through physical computing, which has been shown to be motivational whilst […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","msr-author-ordering":null,"msr_publishername":"ACM","msr_publisher_other":"","msr_booktitle":"","msr_chapter":"","msr_edition":"","msr_editors":"","msr_how_published":"","msr_isbn":"","msr_issue":"","msr_journal":"","msr_number":"","msr_organization":"","msr_pages_string":"","msr_page_range_start":"531","msr_page_range_end":"536","msr_series":"","msr_volume":"","msr_copyright":"","msr_conference_name":"Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education","msr_doi":"","msr_arxiv_id":"","msr_s2_paper_id":"","msr_mag_id":"","msr_pubmed_id":"","msr_other_authors":"","msr_other_contributors":"","msr_speaker":"","msr_award":"","msr_affiliation":"","msr_institution":"","msr_host":"","msr_version":"","msr_duration":"","msr_original_fields_of_study":"","msr_release_tracker_id":"","msr_s2_match_type":"","msr_citation_count_updated":"","msr_published_date":"2017-3-8","msr_highlight_text":"","msr_notes":"","msr_longbiography":"","msr_publicationurl":"https:\/\/kclpure.kcl.ac.uk\/portal\/files\/65615345\/creating_cool_stuff_POSTPRINT_to_share.pdf","msr_external_url":"","msr_secondary_video_url":"","msr_conference_url":"","msr_journal_url":"","msr_s2_pdf_url":"","msr_year":0,"msr_citation_count":0,"msr_influential_citations":0,"msr_reference_count":0,"msr_s2_match_confidence":0,"msr_microsoftintellectualproperty":true,"msr_s2_open_access":false,"msr_s2_author_ids":[],"msr_pub_ids":[],"msr_hide_image_in_river":0,"footnotes":""},"msr-research-highlight":[],"research-area":[13552],"msr-publication-type":[193716],"msr-publisher":[],"msr-focus-area":[],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-post-option":[],"msr-field-of-study":[],"msr-conference":[],"msr-journal":[],"msr-impact-theme":[],"msr-pillar":[],"class_list":["post-504521","msr-research-item","type-msr-research-item","status-publish","hentry","msr-research-area-hardware-devices","msr-locale-en_us"],"msr_publishername":"ACM","msr_edition":"","msr_affiliation":"","msr_published_date":"2017-3-8","msr_host":"","msr_duration":"","msr_version":"","msr_speaker":"","msr_other_contributors":"","msr_booktitle":"","msr_pages_string":"","msr_chapter":"","msr_isbn":"","msr_journal":"","msr_volume":"","msr_number":"","msr_editors":"","msr_series":"","msr_issue":"","msr_organization":"","msr_how_published":"","msr_notes":"","msr_highlight_text":"","msr_release_tracker_id":"","msr_original_fields_of_study":"","msr_download_urls":"","msr_external_url":"","msr_secondary_video_url":"","msr_longbiography":"","msr_microsoftintellectualproperty":1,"msr_main_download":"","msr_publicationurl":"https:\/\/kclpure.kcl.ac.uk\/portal\/files\/65615345\/creating_cool_stuff_POSTPRINT_to_share.pdf","msr_doi":"","msr_publication_uploader":[{"type":"url","viewUrl":"false","id":"false","title":"https:\/\/kclpure.kcl.ac.uk\/portal\/files\/65615345\/creating_cool_stuff_POSTPRINT_to_share.pdf","label_id":"243132","label":0},{"type":"doi","viewUrl":"false","id":"false","title":"10.1145\/3017680.3017749","label_id":"243106","label":0}],"msr_related_uploader":"","msr_citation_count":0,"msr_citation_count_updated":"","msr_s2_paper_id":"","msr_influential_citations":0,"msr_reference_count":0,"msr_arxiv_id":"","msr_s2_author_ids":[],"msr_s2_open_access":false,"msr_s2_pdf_url":null,"msr_attachments":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/kclpure.kcl.ac.uk\/portal\/files\/65615345\/creating_cool_stuff_POSTPRINT_to_share.pdf"}],"msr-author-ordering":[{"type":"text","value":"Sue Sentance","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Jane Waite","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Steve Hodges","user_id":33628,"rest_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Steve Hodges"},{"type":"text","value":"Emily MacLeod","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Lucy Yeomans","user_id":0,"rest_url":false}],"msr_impact_theme":[],"msr_research_lab":[199561],"msr_event":[],"msr_group":[],"msr_project":[642759,427296,171471],"publication":[],"video":[],"msr-tool":[],"msr_publication_type":"inproceedings","related_content":{"projects":[{"ID":642759,"post_title":"Physical Computing","post_name":"physical-computing","post_type":"msr-project","post_date":"2020-09-05 13:30:17","post_modified":"2023-11-28 10:05:58","post_status":"publish","permalink":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/project\/physical-computing\/","post_excerpt":"Physical computing refers to the use of tangible, embedded microcontroller-based interactive systems that can sense the world around them and\/or control outputs such as lights, displays and motors. Assembling the hardware elements of a physical computer and programming it with the desired behavior provides a creative and educational experience. A variety of physical computing devices are established in the market, including: Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Circuit Playground, and the BBC micro:bit. Microsoft has been active in…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-project\/642759"}]}},{"ID":427296,"post_title":"Microsoft MakeCode","post_name":"microsoft-makecode","post_type":"msr-project","post_date":"2017-09-23 21:55:47","post_modified":"2023-11-28 10:02:33","post_status":"publish","permalink":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/project\/microsoft-makecode\/","post_excerpt":"Microsoft MakeCode is a joint project between Microsoft Research and Visual Studio to make it simple to program microcontroller-based devices using a modern web app.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-project\/427296"}]}},{"ID":171471,"post_title":"The BBC micro:bit and Microsoft","post_name":"the-bbc-microbit-and-microsoft","post_type":"msr-project","post_date":"2015-05-28 11:52:03","post_modified":"2023-11-28 10:36:15","post_status":"publish","permalink":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/project\/the-bbc-microbit-and-microsoft\/","post_excerpt":"Try our Block\/JavaScript editor! The BBC and partners, including Microsoft, announce the BBC micro:bit \u2013 a pocket-sized, codeable computer that allows children to get creative with technology. Nearly 1 million micro:bits were given to every 11 or 12 year old child in Year 7 or equivalent across the UK in 2016, for free. \u201cThe simple truth is, being a maker matters. 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