In the summer of 2019, Techno Tinkers held our first STEM Education for Educators (SEE) program at the Texas Empowerment Academy. The workshop taught teachers how to use the micro:bit, and how the device worked. We also provided lesson plan examples for teachers, so they could seamlessly implement technology education into their classrooms. Although there were challenges at the beginning, the teachers, all of whom had no prior experience with the BBC micro:bit, found themselves catching on quickly. The friendly, self-paced environment of the workshop allowed educators to ask questions and get one-on-one support as they practiced coding with the micro:bit. Additionally, Techno Tinkers provided sample lesson plans to the teachers as they considered the best way to bring STEM education into the classroom.
A few weeks after our initial SEE program, the director of the STEM program at Texas Empowerment Academy reached out to Techno Tinkers and inquired about our student education programs. Techno Tinkers held a day-long Discover Micro:bit program for middle school students, where students learned to use the micro:bit. We also introduced students to devices that would extend the functionality of the micro:bit with our Watch Kits. Through this program, students learned the fundamentals of programming via the micro:bit, created several individual mini-projects, and received the materials to program their own micro:bit-powered digital watch.
