The BBC is sending out a mini computer to all Year 7 students

The BBC has gone ahead and shown off the final design of the Micro Bit, a tiny little computer that the broadcaster intends to send out to all students starting secondary school in the UK this year. Those moving on in to Year 7 this September will be getting one of these Micro Bit computers in October.

This is all a part of The BBC's initiative to get young people in to programming. The Micro Bit features different programmable LED lights and hosts two buttons along with a motion sensor. A prototype of the device was shown off earlier this year without the buttons or the motion sensor, although it did previously have a slot for a thin battery, which has now been removed.

Image Source: The BBC

The BBC's director general, Tony Hall, hopes that this will help young people learn basic programming skills before leaving schools, something that has become more of a focus point over the last few years: “We all know there's a critical and growing digital skills gap in this country and that's why it's so important that we come together and do something about it”.

Teachers will hopefully begin implementing the Micro Bit in to classes over the next school year and get young students learning basic programming skills in order to control the LEDs and functions of the tiny computer.  The Micro Bit can also be hooked up to other devices like the Raspberry Pi.

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KitGuru Says: This is a pretty decent initiative. Back when I was in school, programming wasn't even touched upon and now it seems to be a major focus, which is definitely important as we become more and more reliant on computers on a daily basis.

Via: The BBC

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