Around a million teachers and students all over the UK will start to receive a free BBC Micro:bit computer starting on March 22. The purpose is to hand kids an easily programmable computer to get them to learn code at a young age similar to the 1980's BBC Micro.
Children aged 11 to 12 in schools located in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland will be able to register for the program that will be receiving a privilege to a free Micro:bit.
The Director and General of the BBC Tony Hall said, "The BBC Micro:bit has the potential to be a seminal piece of British innovation, helping this generation to be the coders, programmers and digital pioneers of the future."
Sooner or later even non-students will be able to purchase Micro:bit for their own DIY use. For the time being commercial pricing is unknown, where BBC is still focusing on providing one million Micro:bit to students before making it available for commercial attention.
BBC's initiative to rather than basing a whole bill to an odd of a million Micro:bit and develop its framework from scratch, it got in contact with a broad range of companies that offered assistance and backing such as Microsoft that provided programming languages like Touch Develop.
BBC assured that students and teachers will be offered a Micro:bit with a USB cable and a battery holder, where teachers will be receiving a 32 page long guide book that provides enough information to build a basic program that connects the Micro:bit's sensors, LED and buttons.
In addition, the Micro:bit website introduces several features of tutorials and resources to help build projects such as a heart monitor or virtual pet using the Micro:bit, and different tools for code editors such as Code Kingdoms Java Script editor and Microsoft's Block Editor.
Head of BBC Learning Sinead Rocks said, "The BBC Micro:bit has seemingly limitless potential, especially when paired with other hardware, and we can't wait to see what students will do with it. They've already come up with all kinds of ideas during testing and at events around the country, some ideas help solve some of life's daily challenges, some could have business potential, and others are just great fun. Teachers have been quick to embrace it too, which is so important to the success of the project, and they have already made valuable additions to our online resources."
