Skip to main content

Micro:bit V1 vs. V2 in 2026: Is the Older Board Still Worth It for Classroom Data Logging?

The original Micro:bit V1 (left) remains a powerful tool for teaching data logging and IoT fundamentals, even alongside the feature-rich V2 (right) produced using ChatGPT Introduction   Before you drop those original Micro:bit V1 boards into the recycling bin, ask yourself this: what if the board without all the bells and whistles is actually the better teaching tool? As we move further into 2026, many educators find their storage bins filled with V1 boards — the ones without the notched gold edge connectors. With the V2 boasting a built-in microphone, speaker, touch-sensitive logo, and a faster processor, it's tempting to assume the V1 is obsolete. But is it really? The answer, perhaps surprisingly, depends entirely on what you are trying to teach — and the V1 makes a far stronger case for itself than most people expect. The Technical Trade-off   To be fair to both boards, the V2 is the clear winner for AI, audio, and machine learning projects — and if your budget allows, ...
Post a Comment

Robotics within the Teaching of Problem-Solving

Robotics within the teaching of Problem-Solving



Volume/Issue:  Vol 7, Issue 1

Date:Sunday, 1 June, 2008

Journal Name: ITALICS

Author(s)

Scott Turner
Gary Hill

 Abstract
This paper considers the experiences of teaching on a module where problem-solving is taught first, then programming. The main tools for the problem-solving part, alongside two problem-solving approaches, are tasks using Mindstorm (LEGO, Denmark) robot kits. This is being done as a foundation step before the syntax of a language (Java) is taught to enable a Graphical User Interface (GUI) emulation of a previous robot problem. Results of student evaluation and feedback will be presented and the use of two simulators will be considered.

 Full paper available at: https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/robotics-within-teaching-problem-solving or PDF version https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/ital.7.1h.pdf

All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Robot Software

In the previous blog posts for this 'series' "It is a good time...."  Post 1  looked at the hardware unpinning some of this positive rise in robots; Post 2  looked at social robots; Post 3  looked at a collection of small robots; Post 4 looked at further examples of small robots Robots, such as the forthcoming Buddy and JIBO, will be based some established open sourceand other technologies. Jibo will be based around various technologies including Electron and JavaScript (for more details see:  http://blog.jibo.com/2015/07/29/jibo-making-development-readily-accessible-to-all-developers/ ). Buddy is expected to be developed around tools for Unity3d, Arduino and OpenCV, and support Python, C++, C#, Java and JavaScript (for more details see http://www.roboticstrends.com/article/customize_your_buddy_companion_robot_with_this_software_development_kit ).  This post contin ues with some of the software being used with the smaller robots.  A number ...
1 comment
Read more

Speech Recognition in Scratch 3 - turning Hello into Bonjour!

The Raspberry Pi Foundation recently released a programming activity Alien Language , with support Dale from Machine Learning for Kids , that is a brilliant use of Scratch 3 - Speech Recognition to control a sprite in an alien language. Do the activity, and it is very much worth doing, and it will make sense! I  would also recommend going to the  machinelearningforkids.co.uk   site anyway it is full of exciting things to do (for example loads of activities  https://machinelearningforkids.co.uk/#!/worksheets  ) . Scratch 3 has lots of extensions that are accessible through the Extension button in the Scratch 3 editor (see below) which add new fun new blocks to play with. The critical thing for this post is  Machine Learning for Kids  have created a Scratch 3 template with their own extensions for Scratch 3 within it  https://machinelearningforkids.co.uk/scratch3/ . One of which is a Speech to Text extension (see below). You must use this one ...
5 comments
Read more

Scratch and web-cams in Scratch 3

Scratch 3 was launched on 2nd January 2019, so I wanted to know would Webcams still work with Scratch 3 as it did with Scratch 2. For example, in a previous post  Scratch, webcams, cats and explosions  the cat (Scratch) moved across the screen and a button burst when the object moved in the camera onto it.  Can the same thing be done in Scratch 3? The short answer is yes, but it is done slightly differently. The first change the video capture is not there in the blocks automatically; but is an extension that needs to be added. First, you need to add the extension blocks for video sensing. Go to the little icon at the bottom left of the screen (as shown below) this takes you to the extensions menu. Next, find the Video Sensing option and selected. The webcam, if enabled, with start automatically. A video sensing set of blocks is now in the list of block options.  The rest is very similar to doing this in Scratch 2. Moving ...
3 comments
Read more