The BBC micro:bit
The micro:bit is a small, low-cost, highly programmably circuitboard.
For UG students
If you’re a Cardiff University undergraduate, you can find more information about how to get involved as an ENGINmaker here.
Engineering is fundamentally about using technical skills (science, maths, computing and more) to design solutions to problems. As a society, two hugely important challenges we face are the climate crisis and our global health, and we need as many of the next generation as possible to be equipped with the appropriate skills to be able to help engineer solutions to these problems.
The ENGINmakers project brings students and academics from the School of Engineering together with teachers from local primary and secondary schools to develop and deliver activities for schoolchildren. We aim to capture the interest of the children by designing activities that encourage them to be ‘makers’, to design and build solutions to a problem using easily accessible materials.
For the pilot initiative in 2022, the projects were based around the BBC micro:bit platform, a small low-cost programmable circuitboard that is already widely used in schools across the UK. Working with collaborators in the School of Computer Science and Informatics, this project aims to create a pathway for bridging the gap between research within the School of Engineering and primary and secondary education in the local area, with aspirations to reach much further where possible.