HARDWARE IN SCHOOL

Make learning fun with cool hardware like the Raspberry Pi, the micro:bit and to explain what you need.

They say the best way to learn is to do – and what could be more fun than tackling a few projects? We’ve chosen three that will not only help you learn coding and enhance your knowledge of electronics, but also introduce you to the most exciting and popular devices used in schools, as well as in the real industrial world. This isn’t just about dull education: these are real-life tools that are changing the planet. The world of single-board computers and microcontrollers is awash with designs, all promising to be the next step in the evolution of Making and learning. But if you are new to this area, you really just want to stick with the big three: the Arduino, micro:bit and the Raspberry Pi.

Support (and openness) is the crucial factor for these boards. The Arduino has many community members and blog posts that illustrate the many projects that have been created – likewise for micro:bit, which is still relatively new on the block, but is rapidly creating a community of makers around it, all eager to push the board to its limits. The strongest community is that of the Raspberry Pi: the number of blog posts, forums and videos for this board is phenomenal, largely thanks to the project’s activity with schools and organisations such as Computing at School. This is where the Raspberry Pi dominates the market: it is influencing the current uptake of Computer Science for high-school students.

Each of these boards can teach the basics of Computer Science. We encourage you to try them all and see which is compatible with the projects you wish to create.