KS2 Getting active with the micro:bit

Unit of 5 lessons aimed at pupils KS2 Year 6 in England( ages 10-11). They are introduced to variables and develop their understanding through a mixture of unplugged and practical programming activities. Pupils design and program the micro:bit to be a star-jump and step counter and a family activity selector.

The sequence comprises 5 lessons of approximately 60 minutes each:

1. Describing with variables
2. Using variables in algorithms and programs
3. Analysing, programming and evaluating step-counters
4. Planning to get active
5. Programming and evaluating a family activity picker
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Learning objectives

• can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation
• have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve problems
• can evaluate and apply information technology
• are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology
  .

Additional skills
Creative thinking, collaboration, problem-solving, debugging, evaluation.

Supplied resources

• Lesson plans (Word)
• Lesson slides (PowerPoint)
• Student handouts
• Sample micro:bit program files
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England KS2 computing curriculum links

• design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems; solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts
• use sequence, selection and repetition in programs; work with variables and various forms of input and output
• use logical reasoning to explain how some simple algorithms work and to detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs
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England KS2 science curriculum links
Humans and other animals (year 6 program of study):
recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function.

Code.org CS Fundamentals links
Course F
Concepts included:

• variables
• algorithms
• programming
• nested conditionals
• product development