Second education cycle: elementary school teachers and librarians explored the potential of the micro:bit
We organized the second cycle of education for elementary school teachers and school librarians.
The Digital Literacy Revolution is a project by the Rotary Club Zagreb Centar in partnership with the Institute for Youth Development and Innovation – IRIM and with the support of The Rotary Foundation, Rotary District 1913, 45 Rotary clubs and districts from the Croatia and abroad (USA, Japan, Taiwan and the Netherlands), the Croatian Ministry of Science and Education and numerous sponsors from the world of business (List of partners below).
The goal of the project is to equip up to 300 primary schools throughout Croatia with 15,000 micro:bit microcomputers for classroom teaching (grades 1-4).
View all schools in the project on the side:
Micro:bit is a platform for developing digital and STEM competencies chosen by many countries and education systems such as Denmark, England and Wales, Singapore, Scotland, Norway and many other countries.
All schools in the project:
Croatia was one of the first countries to adopt this technology in schools, and as far as we know, this is the first national implementation of this technology in the lower grades of primary schools and is the best example of how the introduction of modern STEM competences into classes can also be done by civil society initiatives, in cooperation with the state.
Micro:bit is a great technology for developing STEM competencies because it is beginner-friendly and easy to use. But it also offers plenty of opportunities to learn about different concepts in computing and electronics, such as programming, sensor management and computer work, radio signal management and device coordination in the Internet of Things, and developing of other advanced skills. An exceptionally rich ecosystem with a multitude of content, curriculum and tools – such as, for example, a visual Python editor that enables work with virtual micro:bits – makes it an unsurpassed educational technology. An important aspect is also its low price.
With the micro:bit, students can create their own projects and learn through play and exploration. This can encourage them to think and innovate and develop their STEM competencies.
School libraries will be transformed into digital hubs by introducing micro:bit devices, supported by rich content and training.
These digital hubs will be used to introduce conceptual coding across the country to the lower grades, creating transformational effect and an impact.
With this approach, we will help children be prepared for the global challenges of the 21st century, thus radically improving their chance for equal opportunities regardless of the country’s GDP, gender, school system or personal preferences.
We are using a proven partner and implementation model to ensure that Croatia becomes the first EU country to have highly interactive coding introduced from Grade 1, setting an inspiring path for other countries to follow.
The value of the project is 400,000 USD.
PROJECT ACTIVITIES
In the project, we donate micro:bits for use in lower grades in curricular and extracurricular activities.
Since students in lower grades rarely have allocated time to use IT classrooms, micro:bits will be placed in school libraries, so that teaching can take place either there, in IT classrooms or in any other classroom. Additional micro:bits will be allocated to libraries for students to borrow for homework.
In this project, Micro:bits will be used both intra-subject and inter-subject, i.e. without the need to change the curriculum.
Micro:bit is simply going to be used as a teaching tool to teach the existing lesson plans in a digitally creative way, so it is not necessary to change the curriculum to participate in the project.
Partners (Donors)
Schedule
Call for schools
December 2022.
Education for educators
January 2023.
Selection of participants
February 2023.
Delivery of micro:bits to Schools
September 2023.
Workshops for teachers
October and November 2023.
Publication of educational materials
October 2023.
Project news
The first cycle of education on using the micro:bit completed
We organized introductory workshops for nearly 1,200 involved elementary school teachers, librarians, and computer science teachers.
The first round of education for all project participants begins
We organized introductory workshops for almost 1,200 involved primary school teachers, librarians, and computer science teachers.