This blog post was written by Harry and Hamish, two pupils at George Watson’s College who participated in the pilot programme in the autumn term, 2025.
Welcome to the BBC Micro:Bits On The Move blog from some of the pupil team at George Watson’s College, this is our opportunity to share our experiences with you. Our team consists of students from different backgrounds, giving us a good balance between technical knowledge and teaching skills. Our goal at Micro:Bits On The Move is to teach children from different Primary schools around Edinburgh more about the world of programming and computer science.
Initially, we were introduced to the Micro:bits and given an explanation of what they were and how to use them. Then we had the opportunity to play around with them and understand them a bit better to see what they were capable of, so we would be able to better explain and teach the children how to use them. In order to simplify the learning experience and to grab the children’s attention, we created a set of slides to be shown in the classroom that aim to be concise and helpful. The purpose of these slides was to make our job as teachers as easy as possible and allow us to help anyone with common problems that we had encountered when testing them, while allowing those who were confident to work ahead.
Before we conduct sessions with other primary schools in Edinburgh, we have been having some trial runs with the Primary 6 pupils in our own school. The first sessions went surprisingly well, despite our team having very little experience managing a classroom or teaching. We spent some time explaining who we were and trying to get the children excited about the number of ways that they could play with the Micro:bit.
The first activity we decided to teach was a simple program that would show their name on the screen. We wanted to keep it simple, as not many children have technical experience. The Micro:bits are a very interactive learning tool, which significantly aided in keeping the children engaged to learn more, while also introducing them to the concept of programming. After that, we gave the children the opportunity to explore the different ways that the Micro:bits could be used independently, and it was amazing to see the different ways the children approached the Micro:bits. Some chose to use the built-in speaker to create their own songs, while others chose to create patterns on the 5×5 LED screen. Our goals for the future are to go to other schools in Edinburgh and further refine our teaching skills and get more children interested in the world of computing science.
We would say that most members of our Micro:bits team enjoy spreading the love for computing science as well as giving a good example of their leadership skills, an excellent addition to any personal statement. As part of this activity, we have also begun the process of doing the Young STEM Leaders qualification, which evidences the leadership and communication skills we are developing. Lots of us are aiming to work better in a team and to gain some experience working in a large group of people.
