Summer club coding challenge is latest STEM initiative

The online community for engineers has partnered with Kitronik, which develops educational project kits for this STEM initative. It builds on last year’s ‘Great micro:bit giveaway’ a creative design project which had participants from the UK, New Zealand, Canada, Chile and Romania. This year, the challenge encourages setting up summer code clubs for coding beginners from around seven to 11 or 12 years old.

Participating clubs will be tasked with creating a simple, interactive game with the resources provided. Judges will select a winning creative gaming project to win 10 Raspberry Pi model B+ starter kits (worth around £390.00).

A spokesperson for element14 Community told Electronics Weekly: “A lot of organised weekly groups stop running clubs in the summer holidays, but many guide and scout groups have summer camps.  The micro:bit has the capability to introduce coding to kids in a much more practical, hands-on way than before, enabling them to create projects that can be used in the real world – from pedometers to speedometers – this scheme would be great for scouting and guiding groups looking to integrate coding into their other activities – e.g. imagine tracking how fast a scout goes down a zipwire…”

Thinking of applying but unsure of what coding skills you may need to run a club? Micro:bit coding is based on a block coding system that is similar to Scratch, already used to introduce children to coding as part of the curriculum. (Stratch can also be used.) The coding environment can be accessed through Microsoft make:code and there are also teaching materials and resources available.

To apply to run a code club between June and August 2019 can submit an application online before 31 May. Successful applicants will be provided with micro:bit club packs and Kitronik Inventor Kits containing all the equipment and resources needed to run a full curriculum of simple projects and experiments.

Dianne Kibbey, global head of community and social media for the element14 Community, said: “After our last education initiative involving the micro:bit inspired so many incredible projects from our members around the world, we are excited to build on this success and empower our members to run code clubs in their local communities with the help of our partners at Kitronik.”