Experiences in Developing and Testing BBC Micro: bit Games in a K-12 Coding Club during the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Published in: 2021 IEEE/ACIS 20th International Fall Conference on Computer and Information Science (ICIS Fall) pp. 161 - 164
• Main Authors: Garcia-Ruiz, Miguel A., Alvarez-Cardenas, Omar, Iniguez-Carrillo, Adriana L.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 13.10.2021
• Subjects: bit; Computers; COVID-19; Games; Micro; microcontroller board; Microcontrollers; Pandemics; physical computing; Sensor phenomena and characterization; serious games; testing; visual coding
• DOI: 10.1109/ICISFall51598.2021.9627364

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the traditional teaching and learning process, moving students' educational hands-on activities carried out in the classroom to home activities that include the use of online tools. Here we describe an after-class online coding club conducted for a month, where elementary (primary) school students programmed and tested games running on the BBC Micro: bit microcontroller board. By developing gaming mini-projects, the students learned computing topics such as logic, sensors, random number generation, game development and programming, and how small physical computing mini-projects were conducted. In this paper, we describe how students and an instructor developed and tested games made for the Micro: bit, running an online simulator and physically using the Micro: bit at home. The paper shows lessons learned on developing games with the BBC Micro: bit in the coding club, and challenges that students encountered in the game development with the BBC Micro: bit. Future work includes multisensory educational gaming projects with the BBC Micro: bit.