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CCC - Tech for Change

Resources for the 'Tech for Change' Creative Computing Club.

This page recaps what we discussed as a group.

To skip to the examples and ideas, click here.


Your challenge: create a prototype device to protect our wildlife

At Science Oxford, we have a large woodland, ponds and meadows.

You can use use technology to design a solution to a problem that effects the wildlife living here.

Some problems we have include:


Creating your first program

Go to the MakeCode editor, and click New Project.

MakeCode editor window

Drag and drop code blocks (click into the Basic menu), to recreate this code:

on start, display string

You will see it running on the emulator on the left of your screen.


Follow the instructions to pair your micro:bit, then click Download to send your code to your physical micro:bit.


If, then, else

Try this code:

if button a pressed, show light level

If you press Button A on your micro:bit, it will display the light level at the time the button was pressed.


on button pressed vs if button pressed

These two blocks of code are equivalent.

The one on the left is good for quick testing.

The one on the right is more useful to us, because you can use it to build more complex programs.

The block you need to create this new code is in the Logic menu.


Next, add to your code, by clicking the + button at the bottom.

Make something different happen when the button is not pressed (else), for example clear the screen.

forever, if 'button A is pressed' then, show icon, else, clear screen

What can you use this for?

There are lots of useful blocks in the Logic menu.

As well as the Conditionals we have just used, you can combine Comparison and Boolean blocks to make a really interesting program!

Think about what you want to achieve, then experiment with the code blocks.


Next steps

The micro:bit has many different sensors you can use. To decide where to start, think about what problem you want to solve.

Some sensors are in the inputs menu:

You can also use other outputs, such as a speaker and the Music blocks.

The links below give you some help with some more challenging ideas.