After a short introduction to the Micro:BIT (MB), we were told to get familiar with both the MB as well as its software.
## The Micro:BIT as a physical object
Our first focus was the Micro:BIT’s tangibility and feel. Since the Micro:BIT is made for learning, the fact that it’s physical appearance is tangible is very important. That the object itself is easy to grasp will make it easier for youths, without hardware and programming knowledge, to understand. When we picked up the Micro:BIT we all drew a parallel to the game boy - the a and b button (as seen on picture 1, the a & b button on the right side) intrigued us to click them, to see what they did. This perceived affordance was perfect for people our age, though we do worry, that the youth wont have the same perceived affordance, because technology today often features touchscreens for interaction.
*picture 1 - Game boy*
Yet In Papert (1980) we were given an insight to how, his interest for gears and mechanics affected both his childhood but also his journey from adolescence to adulthood - especially the way he ‘’saw’’ the world. Complex problems became simple when he related it to gears. What we can gather from this text is; there’s still a possibility for Micro:bit and the interaction between man and technology to have the same effect as gears did for Papert. They will begin to see the world from another angle, and this will shape the way they will interact with technology in the future.
Graham, Graham (2003), presents the idéa that hacking shouldn’t be a linear, restricted process but a creative and playful flow of different idéas. With the Micro:BIT kids are able to try out different designs without specific guidelines, which is great for their creativity, we think.
## The Micro:BIT’s software
The software used for creating programs for your Micro:BIT as a whole worked great - though not perfect. The drag and drop code builder was a great way to simplify coding for the youth. The code-blocks format is very similar to puzzles, and is a great analogy to make children see that coding is actually more or less about combining some fundamental “building blocks” (pieces of code) into a program - a great way to demystify programming.
The emulated Micro:BIT inside the software gave us mixed feelings. While it was very convenient being able to see how the code was going to function directly in the software, it also left the physical Micro:BIT out of focus.
In addition to these things, the software did a fairly good job of explaining what was actually going on, often with good explanations of both the code and the editor - though we feel that some things might benefit from a general explanation, I.e. the way a boolean is described.
