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MicroBit Joust

Introducing The Concept When I was in the scouts, we used to play wide games where a piece of wool was tied around your arm. This was your “life” and if someone managed to remove it, you were out. The principle was great, however, I am not sure it totally worked in practice. In 2012,

Making the Most of a Maths Subscription

Over recent years, a range of sites offering pupils the opportunity for practice of Maths skills have been developed. These range from sites focused on mental maths to those containing a full range of curriculum assignments to cover the objectives for each year group. This article discusses why I think these services have had little

Else…if I used blocks in other contexts beyond Scratch…

As I have been teaching Python to year 7s this term, as well as my KS2 teaching, it has struck me how many computational concepts I am having to teach, often for the first time for these students. Sometimes this is due to lack of any experiences with coding in the primary years, however, with

MicroBit Quiz System

A wireless LED quiz button system with sounds! A few years ago I found myself trying to judge who had put their hand up first in a house quiz competition at school. When they got it the answer wrong, I was then asked who was next. It ended up with staff all over the room

Binary Addition

One of the other tasks required for GCSE computer science is the ability to add two binary numbers up to 8 bits and consider overflow. But starting small might be better Hopefully this interactive will help. Starting Small In binary 12 + 02 = 12 (The little 2 denotes using binary or base 2) But

Binary Bytes to Hexadecimal Pairs

Binary is perhaps very simple at heart, but confusing at first when you have spent all your life dealing with ten digits instead of two. GCSE computing requires students to both understand binary and use it. In addition, an understanding of hexadecimal is required too. So here I hope to make life a little easier

Blast off with the Micro:Bit

Connecting, Installing and Creating Hardware SetUp – Computer/Laptop To get going you are going to need a Microbit, battery holder, two AAA batteries and a USB lead. These can all be bought as a pack from under £15. Do be careful about USB phone charging leads, which may not pass data as these pins aren’t

Holding Hands

Experiences of an educator being a supported learner So like many, I have bought technology and used it once, then moved on to the next thing. The Micro:Bit was a prime example of this, when back in 2016 I was introduced to this new technology in a classroom setting with a very prescribed “now do

Multiplication Checker

Check Multiplication calculations using this page. Click on the digits to change the question and answer. Click Check to see if you are correct, made a minor error or need to look more closely. Click here

Division Checker

Check a division problem including remainders. Click on the digits to change the problem and answer. When you think they are correct, check your answer. It will tell you whether you are correct, one digit is wrong or there are more errors. Click Here

Subtraction Checker

Check a subtraction calculation using this handy checker. It will tell you whether you are correct, have made a minor error and are incorrect. Click Here