This term students have been prototyping with LittleBits. We have been fortunate to be able to purchase the LittleBits Pro-Library which has over 300 bits. In small groups the girls came up with a solution to an issue which they felt needed addressing, for example, not having to get out of bed to send a message to a sister!
I have spoken about LittleBits in previous posts, LittleBits is a platform of easy-to-use electronic building blocks that empower children to invent anything, from remote controlled cars, to a smart home device. The Bits snap together with magnets, no soldering, no wiring, no programming needed. LittleBits was developed by Ayah Bdeir while working on her Master’s degree in Computing Culture at MIT, Ayah Bdeir created the first littleBits™ prototypes on her own in 2011.
The girls had some interesting designs: an ‘inchworm’ to pass messages to a sibling, an alarm to alert others that someone is entering a room, a DJ set-up and a drum with a touch sensor stick, an art bot to draw circles, remote controlled cars which presented plenty of problem-solving to get the wheels rotating the same way!
The girls are now looking forward to sharing with other students in the junior school.
I was fortunate to run a professional development session with the junior school staff where there was plenty of playing and discovering the capabilities of LittleBits. Since then many teachers have brought their classes to visit the Makerspace and have created circuits to learn about inputs and outputs and discover fun circuits!