How do unstable things stay upright? True passive balancing is very difficult and isn’t dynamic, so it doesn’t help when there is movement. Active balancing is all about inertia and this is how a tightrope walker can traverse a chasm by making small adjustments with a long pole. This is the same principle behind “self-balancing robots” that utilize reaction wheels. But the control scheme necessary to get that right is very difficult to perfect, as demonstrated by Nikodem Bartnik’s project that was three years in the making.
Physically, this is about as simple as a self-balancing robot can be. It stands on a single foot designed to be unstable in one horizontal axis, but stable in the other. It is long, front-to-back, so the robot can’t tip forward or backward. But the bottom of the foot has a curve to it, so it can’t stand upright without tipping to one side or the other. A reaction wheel with bolts for weights is responsible for preventing that tipping.
This is supposed to work by spinning in order to “push” against nothing (thanks to inertia), which generates torque to stop the tip. But Bartnik discovered that it was a massive challenge to tune that spin.
An Arduino Nano board controls a small brushless DC motor that spins the reaction wheel. A gyroscope sensor lets the Arduino monitor tilt and power comes from a hobby LiPo battery. The Arduino utilizes PID (proportional-integral-derivative) algorithms to try an apply just enough spin to counteract tipping, but not so much that it overcorrects.
That’s where Bartnik ran into trouble, because PID tuning is hard. Each variable has to be at the exact value — relative to the others — for PID to work as intended. After countless hours of struggling, Bartnik added a Bluetooth module to the Arduino to change those values wirelessly without flashing new code every time. That sped up the process dramatically, allowing Bartnik to find a set of values that works pretty well to keep the robot upright.
My favorite part about “coming soon” to Game Pass is that it quickly turns into “available today” messaging. From driving to golfing to tomb raiding, there’s plenty here that’s going to be available sooner rather than later. Let’s take a look at the games that are mere moments away from your download queue!
Available Today
Superhot: Mind Control Delete (Cloud, Console, and PC) Returning to the Game Pass library today, Superhot: Mind Control Delete gives you more insight into the signature power fantasy world of Superhot with more story, more signature gameplay, more action, more guns. Keep dancing the slow-motion ballet of destruction for much longer than ever before.
Coming Soon
LEGO 2K Drive (Cloud and Console) – April 3 Welcome to Bricklandia, home of a massive open-world LEGO driving adventure. Race anywhere, play with anyone, build your dream rides, and defeat a cast of wild racing rivals for the coveted Sky Trophy!
Lil Gator Game (Cloud, Console, and PC) – April 4 Who wouldn’t want to be an adorable Lil Gator? Embark on a cute “lil” quest, discovering new friends, and uncovering everything its island has to offer. Climb, swim, glide, and slide your way into the hearts of the many different characters you meet along the way in this adorable open-world adventure!
EA Sports PGA Tour (Cloud, PC, Xbox Series X|S) EA Play – April 4 EA Sports PGA Tour is coming to The Play List with PC Game Pass and Ultimate via EA Play. Become a Major champion, tee off on the Par 3 Course at Augusta National, along with three new 2024 Major host courses.
Kona (Cloud and Console) – April 9 Another game is making a return to the Game Pass library! A strange blizzard ravages Atamipek Lake. Step into the shoes of a detective to explore the eerie village, investigate surreal events, and battle the elements to survive in this chilly, interactive tale you won’t soon forget.
Botany Manor (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – April 9 Available on day one with Game Pass! Explore the historic manor home of retired botanist Arabella Greene, who has amassed a collection of rare, long-forgotten flora that require special conditions to help them bloom. Unlock new seeds, look for clues in the items scattered around the residence, and solve each gardening puzzle to revive these plants.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition (Cloud, Console, and PC) – April 11 Experience the final chapter of Lara’s origin as she is forged into the Tomb Raider she is destined to be. Combining the base game, all seven DLC challenge tombs, as well as all downloadable weapons, outfits, and skills, Shadow of the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition is the ultimate way to experience Lara’s defining moment.
Harold Halibut (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – April 16 Available on day one with Game Pass! Harold Halibut is a handmade narrative game about friendship and life on a city-sized spaceship submerged in an alien ocean. Join Harold as he explores a vibrant retro-future world in his quest to find the true meaning of ‘home’. You can learn more about Harold Halibut in Xbox Wire’s recent hands-on preview here.
DLC / Game Updates
No Man’s Sky Orbital Update – Available now Dock your fully customized starship in the sleek new space stations of update 4.6, Orbital! Space stations have been completely overhauled internally and externally; new starships can be constructed from salvaged parts; frigate fleets can reach out for guidance with interstellar expeditions; standing and guilds have been improved, trading and system economies have been deepened – and much more! Learn more about No Man’s Sky’s Orbital update here on Xbox Wire.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Perks
Final Fantasy XIV Online: Starter Edition – Available now Join over 30 million adventures worldwide in the critically acclaimed online RPG. From now through April 19, the Final Fantasy XIV Online – Starter Edition base game is now free for a limited time – including a 30-day free play period for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members. Terms apply. You can also learn how to build your Warrior of Light in Final Fantasy XIV Online here on Xbox Wire.
YouTube Premium 3 Month Trial – Available now Watch your favorite YouTube creators without ads, offline, and in the background. Plus, stream the latest songs from your favorite artists with uninterrupted access to YouTube Music. New users only. Monthly subscription fee starts at the end of trial. Cancel anytime. Not available in all regions. Terms apply.
Battlefield 2042: Season 7 Field Kit – Available now In the iconic all-out warfare first-person shooter of Battlefield 2042, Game Pass Ultimate and EA Play members can get the Battlefield 2042 Season 7 Field Kit containing a Ride’em Crab Boy Weapon Charm, Rising Tide AM40 Weapon Skin, and Dustproof Specialist Headgear. Check out the other EA Play member rewards and Perks here on Xbox Wire.
Leaving April 15
Make sure you give the following games a proper farewell before they leave the Game Pass library. As always, you can save up to 20% off your purchase to keep them in your library.
Amnesia Collection (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Amnesia: Rebirth (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Back 4 Blood (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Phantom Abyss (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Research and Destroy (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Soma (Cloud, Console, and PC)
That wraps us up! Let us know which game you’re planning on playing first over at @Xbox, @XboxGamePass or @XboxGamePassPC. Catch you next time!
Here at the Raspberry Pi Foundation, we believe that it’s important that our academic research has a practical application. An important area of research we are engaged in is broadening participation in computing education by investigating how the subject can be made more culturally relevant — we have published several studies in this area.
Licensed under the Open Government Licence.
However, we know that busy teachers do not have time to keep abreast of all the latest research. This is where our Pedagogy Quick Reads come in. They show teachers how an area of current research either has been or could be applied in practice.
Our new Pedagogy Quick Reads summarises the central tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy (the theory) and then lays out 10 areas of opportunity as concrete ways for you to put the theory into practice.
Why is culturally relevant pedagogy necessary?
Computing remains an area where many groups of people are underrepresented, including those marginalised because of their gender, ethnicity, socio-economic background, additional educational needs, or age. For example, recent stats in the BCS’ Annual Diversity Report 2023 record that in the UK, the proportion of women working in tech was 20% in 2021, and Black women made up only 0.7% of tech specialists. Beyond gender and ethnicity, pupils who have fewer social and economic opportunities ‘don’t see Computing as a subject for somebody like them’, a recent report from Teach First found.
The fact that in the UK, 94% of girls and 79% of boys drop Computing at age 14 should be of particular concern for Computing educators. This last statistic makes it painfully clear that there is much work to be done to broaden the appeal of Computing in schools. One approach to make the subject more inclusive and attractive to young people is to make it more culturally relevant.
As part of our research to help teachers effectively adapt their curriculum materials to make them culturally relevant and engaging for their learners, we’ve identified 10 areas of opportunity — areas where teachers can choose to take actions to bring the latest research on culturally relevant pedagogy into their classrooms, right here, right now.
Applying the areas of opportunity in your classroom
The Pedagogy Quick Read gives teachers ideas for how they can use the areas of opportunity (AOs) to begin to review their own curriculum, teaching materials, and practices. We recommend picking one area initially, and focusing on that perhaps for a term. This helps you avoid being overwhelmed, and is particularly useful if you are trying to reach a particular group, for example, Year 9 girls, or low-attaining boys, or learners who lack confidence or motivation.
For example, one simple intervention is AO1 ‘Finding out more about our learners’. It’s all too easy for teachers to assume that they know what their students’ interests are. And getting to know your students can be especially tricky at secondary level, when teachers might only see a class once a fortnight or in a carousel.
However, finding out about your learners can be easily achieved in an online survey homework task, set at the beginning of a new academic year or term or unit of work. Using their interests, along with considerations of their backgrounds, families, and identities as inputs in curriculum planning can have tangible benefits: students may begin to feel an increased sense of belonging when they see their interests or identities reflected in the material later used.
How we’re using the AOs
The Quick Read presents two practical case studies of how we’ve used the 10 AO to adapt and assess different lesson materials to increase their relevance for learners.
Case study 1: Teachers in UK primary school adapt resources
As we’ve shared before, we implemented culturally relevant pedagogy as part of UK primary school teachers’ professional development in a recent research project. The Quick Read provides details of how we supported teachers to use the AOs to adapt teaching material to make it more culturally relevant to learners in their own contexts. Links to the resources used to review 2 units of work, lesson by lesson, to adapt tasks, learning material, and outcomes are included in the Quick Read.
Extract from the booklet used in a teacher professional development workshop to frame possible adaptations to lesson activities.
Case study 2: Reflecting on the adaption of resources for a vocational course for young adults in a Kenyan refugee camp
In a different project, we used the AOs to reflect on our adaptation of classroom materials from The Computing Curriculum, which we had designed for schools in England originally. Partnering with Amala Education, we adapted Computing Curriculum materials to create a 100-hour course for young adults at Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya who wanted to develop vocational digital literacy skills.
The diagram below shows our ratings of the importance of applying each AO while adapting materials for this particular context. In this case, the most important areas for making adaptations were to make the context more culturally relevant, and to improve the materials’ accessibility in terms of readability and output formats (text, animation, video, etc.).
Importance of the areas of opportunity to a course adaptation.
You can use this method of reflection as a way to evaluate your progress in addressing different AOs in a unit of work, across the materials for a whole year group, or even for your school’s whole approach. This may be useful for highlighting those areas which have, perhaps, been overlooked.
Applying research to practice with the AOs
The ‘Areas of opportunity’ Pedagogy Quick Read aims to help teachers apply research to their practice by summarising current research and giving practical examples of evidence-based teaching interventions and resources they can use.
The set of AOs was developed as part of a wider research project, and each one is itself research-informed. The Quick Read includes references to that research for everyone who wants to know more about culturally relevant pedagogy. This supporting evidence will be useful to teachers who want to address the topic of culturally relevant pedagogy with senior or subject leaders in their school, who often need to know that new initiatives are evidence-based.
Our goal for the Quick Read is to raise awareness of tried and tested pedagogies that increase accessibility and broaden the appeal of Computing education, so that all of our students can develop a sense of belonging and enjoyment of Computing.
Let us know if you have a story to tell about how you have applied one of the areas of opportunity in your classroom.
To date, our research in the field of culturally relevant pedagogy has been generously supported by funders including Cognizant and Google. We are very grateful to our partners for enabling us to learn more about how to make computing education inclusive for all.
Go to any arcade and the air hockey table will probably be one of the most popular games they have. Everyone loves air hockey, but a lot of people don’t want to go to an arcade just to play. If you fall into that category, then you can follow LloydB’s Instructables guide to make your own scorekeeping air hockey table.
The key to air hockey is right there in the name: air. All of those little holes in the table’s surface allow air flow. That creates an air cushion for the puck and paddles to float on, reducing friction and enabling knuckle-shattering gameplay. For that to work, the table needs something pushing at least as much air as escapes through the holes. This table isn’t very big, so it doesn’t need a high volume of air. Three 12V PC fans are enough. They push air into a chamber beneath the hole-filled top board. Power for the fans comes from a battery holder with 8 AA batteries.
Those batteries also power the Arduino UNO Rev3 that handles the scorekeeping, which is the other important part of air hockey. Each goal chute has a laser break-beam sensor to detect when the puck comes shooting in. The Arduino then updates the scores shown on a 16×2 LCD screen. The Arduino will also emit a tone through a buzzer. That increases in pitch with each point, so players get audible cues as the game progresses.
When you hear the word “joystick,” you probably think of the standard dual-axis joysticks that we see on video game controllers. As the name implies, those move and provide signals for two axes (X and Y). But there is no reason that a joystick needs two axes and, in fact, that may not be desirable. To demonstrate the practicality of single-axis joysticks, Austin Allen built this simple controller suitable for several different applications.
Allen’s device controls three different things with its three single-axis joysticks: an RGB LED, a servo motor, and a stepper motor. Each of those is an example of a single-axis at work. That axis maps to color (red and green) and brightness for the LED, horn position for the servo, and rotation direction/speed for the stepper motor. There are, of course, several other viable use cases for single-axis joysticks.
To showcase this, Allen’s unit provides signals to an Arduino Nano board, which then controls the LED and motors. It controls the LED and servo motor directly, but goes through a TMC2208 driver to handle the stepper motor. The signals from the joysticks are easy to read, because they’re just potentiometers. Each joystick accepts positive and negative power, then outputs a voltage between those two based on its position. With a standard analogRead() function, the Arduino can check the voltage and determine the joystick position.
You may not have any use for this specific controller, but it does do a good job of illustrating potential applications for single-axis joysticks and you should consider them for future projects.
One of the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s core values is our focus on impact. This means that we are committed to learning from the best available evidence, and to being rigorous and transparent about the difference we’re making.
Like many charities, an important part of our approach to achieving and measuring our impact is our theory of change. We are excited to launch a newly refreshed theory of change that reflects our mission and strategy to ensure that young people can realise their full potential through the power of computing and digital technologies.
What is a theory of change?
A theory of change describes the difference an organisation aims to make in the world, the actions it takes to achieve this, and the underlying assumptions about how its actions will create change.
It’s like a good cake recipe. It describes the ingredients and tools that are required, how these are combined, and what the results should be. But a theory of change goes further: it also addresses why you need the cake in the first place, and the reasons why the recipe will produce such a good cake if you follow it correctly!
What is the change we want to make?
Our theory of change begins with a statement of the problem that needs solving: too many young people are missing out on the enormous opportunities from digital technologies, and access to opportunities to learn depends too much on who you are and where you were born.
We want to see a world where young people can take advantage of the opportunities that computers and digital technologies offer to transform their own lives and communities, to contribute to society, and to help address the world’s challenges.
To help us empower young people to do this, we have identified three broad sets of outcomes that we should target, measure, and hold ourselves accountable for. These map roughly to the COM-B model of behaviour change. This model suggests that for change to be achieved, people need a combination of capabilities, opportunities, and motivation.
Our identified outcomes are that we support young people to:
Build knowledge and skills in computing
Understand the opportunities and risks associated with new technologies
Develop the mindsets to confidently engage with technological change
We also support teachers, youth workers, volunteers, and parents to develop their skills and knowledge, and equip them to inspire young people and help them learn. For example, The Computing Curriculum provides a complete bank of free lesson plans and other resources, and Experience AI is our educational programme that includes everything teachers need to deliver lessons on artificial intelligence and machine learning in secondary schools.
Finally, we aim to elevate the state of computing education globally by advocating for policy and systems change, and undertaking our own original research to deepen our understanding of how young people learn about computing.
How will we use our theory of change?
Our theory of change is an important part of our approach to evaluating the impact of our resources and programmes, and it informs all our monitoring and evaluation plans. These plans identify the questions we want to answer, key metrics to monitor, and the data sources we use to understand the impact we’re having and to gather feedback to improve our impact in future.
The theory of change also informs a shared outcomes framework that we are applying consistently across all of our products. This framework supports planning and helps keep us focused as we consider new opportunities to further our mission.
A final role our theory of change plays is to help communicate our mission to other stakeholders, and explain how we can work with our partners and communities to achieve change.
You can read our new theory of change here and if you have any questions or feedback on it, please do get in touch.
In this month’s edition of The MagPi we look at your coding options with Raspberry Pi: should you learn Python, Node.JS, or Go? And which IDE is best? PJ Evans has you covered with this in-depth guide to coding.
Raspberry Pi 5 & Pico
Raspberry Pi 5 is the fastest Raspberry Pi ever made, and Pico is the RP2040 microcontroller-based computing board. Put the two together and you can really start learn code, and electronics and build some amazing things.
Cyberdeck Backback
This backpack features Raspberry Pi and a wide range of electronic and wireless communication technology. With it Davide Marchetti can take his mobile lab from place to place performing security and wireless communication analysis.
Improve your upcycled Sonos Play:1
PJ has converted a Sonos Play:1 into a Raspberry Pi-driven powerhouse of sound. This month he’s going to trick it out with software.
Amazing new projects: Red Telephone
Rob Miles returns with a brand new project. The red telephone takes a classic analogue rotary phone and turns it into a super smart assistant with Raspberry Pi in the innards.
We were honoured to find out that a year long subscription to The MagPi is part of the Raspberry Jam bundle sent out to event organisers over the next couple of months, and thought we’d give our readers a chance to win a version of the bundle with a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and a Raspberry Pi Camera Module 2! You can enter below…
We are pleased to announce that we are renewing our partnership with Oak National Academy in England to provide an updated high-quality Computing curriculum and lesson materials for Key Stages 1 to 4.
New curriculum and materials for the classroom
In 2021 we partnered with Oak National Academy to offer content for schools in England that supported young people to learn Computing at home while schools were closed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
In our renewed partnership, we will create new and updated materials for primary and secondary teachers to use in the classroom. These classroom units will be available for free on the Oak platform and will include everything a teacher needs to deliver engaging lessons, including slide decks, worksheets, quizzes, and accompanying videos for over 550 lessons. The units will cover both the general national Computing curriculum and the Computer Science GCSE, supporting teachers to provide a high-quality Computing offering to all students aged 5 to 16.
These new resources will update the very successful Computing Curriculum and will be rigorously tested by a Computing subject expert group.
“I am delighted that we are continuing our partnership with Oak National Academy to support all teachers in England with world-leading resources for teaching Computing and Computer Science. This means that all teachers in England will have access to free, rigorous and tested classroom resources that they can adapt to suit their context and students.” – Philip Colligan, CEO
All our materials on the Oak platform will be free and openly available, and can be accessed by educators worldwide.
Research-informed, time-saving, and adaptable resources
The materials will bring teachers the added benefit of saving valuable time, and schools can choose to adapt and use the resources in the way that works best for their students
Supporting schools in England and worldwide
We have already started work and will begin releasing units of lessons in autumn 2024. All units across Key Stages 1 to 4 will be available by autumn 2025.
We’re excited to continue our partnership with Oak National Academy to provide support to teachers and students in England.
We all know how annoying a ceiling fan can be when it isn’t balanced well and that annoyance perfectly demonstrates the necessity of a good, sturdy bearing. A ceiling fan’s bearing needs to allow for smooth rotational motion with as little friction as possible, while completely constraining movement in every other axis. Those properties make a ceiling base a surprisingly good starting point for a SCARA, as demonstrated in tuenhidiy’s recent Instructables write-up.
In their tutorial, tuenhidiy refers to this as a “Spaceship Scara Arm.” It isn’t exactly clear why they chose the “spaceship” terminology, but it is similar to a conventional SCARA (Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm) — just one with only two degrees of freedom (DOF).
The entire point of a SCARA is that it is fully constrained, except for rotation around the Z axis at each joint. After their ceiling fan broke, tuenhidiy noticed that the fan’s base with its beefy bearing would be perfect for this application. They took that, added a couple of stepper motors and belts, some aluminum extrusion, and a couple more bearings to create this simple SCARA.
An Arduino UNO Rev3 board controls those motors through a CNC Shield V3. Grbl firmware makes it easy to control the positions of the motors using just about any software a user could possibly want. Some simple calculations regarding the arm’s geometry and gear ratios should let appropriate software determine exactly where it is in space. For a demonstration, tuenhidiy added a DC solenoid for its magnetic capabilities. But anyone replicating this project can add their own end effector to suit their needs.
We offer Ada Computer Science as a platform to support educators and learners alike. But we don’t take its usefulness for granted: as part of our commitment to impact, we regularly gather user feedback and evaluate all of our products, and Ada is no exception. In this blog, we share some of the feedback we’ve gathered from surveys and interviews with the people using Ada.
What’s new on Ada?
Ada Computer Science is our online learning platform designed for teachers, students, and anyone interested in learning about computer science. If you’re teaching or studying a computer science qualification at school, you can use Ada Computer Science for classwork, homework, and revision.
Launched last year as a partnership between us and the University of Cambridge, Ada’s comprehensive resources cover topics like algorithms, data structures, computational thinking, and cybersecurity. It also includes 1,000 self-marking questions, which both teachers and students can use to assess their knowledge and understanding.
Throughout 2023, we continued to develop the support Ada offers. For example, we:
Added over 100 new questions
Expanded code specimens to cover Java and Visual Basic as well as Python and C#
Added an integrated way of learning about databases through writing and executing SQL
Incorporated a beta version of an embedded Python editor with the ability to run code and compare the output with correct solutions
A few weeks ago we launched two all-new topics about artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
So far, all the content on Ada Computer Science is mapped to GCSE and A level exam boards in England, and we’ve just released new resources for the Scottish Qualification Authority’s Computer Systems area of study to support students in Scotland with their National 5 and Higher qualifications.
Who is using Ada?
Ada is being used by a wide variety of users, from at least 127 countries all across the globe. Countries where Ada is most popular include the UK, US, Canada, Australia, Brazil, India, China, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, China, Myanmar, and Indonesia.
Just over half of students using Ada are completing work set by their teacher. However, there are also substantial numbers of young people benefitting from using Ada for their own independent learning. So far, over half a million question attempts have been made on the platform.
How are people using Ada?
Students use Ada for a wide variety of purposes. The most common response in our survey was for revision, but students also use it to complete work set by teachers, to learn new concepts, and to check their understanding of computer science concepts.
Teachers also use Ada for a combination of their own learning, in the classroom with their students, and for setting work outside of lessons. They told us that they value Ada as a source of pre-made questions.
“I like having a bank of questions as a teacher. It’s tiring to create more. I like that I can use the finder and create questions very quickly.” — Computer science teacher, A level
“I like the structure of how it [Ada] is put together. [Resources] are really easy to find and being able to sort by exam board makes it really useful because… at A level there is a huge difference between exam boards.” — GCSE and A level teacher
What feedback are people giving about Ada?
Students and teachers alike were very positive about the quality and usefulness of Ada Computer Science. Overall, 89% of students responding to our survey agreed that Ada is useful for helping them to learn about computer science, and 93% of teachers agreed that it is high quality.
“The impact for me was just having a resource that I felt I always could trust.” — Head of Computer Science
Most teachers also reported that using Ada reduces their workload, saving an average of 3 hours per week.
“[Quizzes] are the most useful because it’s the biggest time saving…especially having them nicely self-marked as well.” — GCSE and A level computer science teacher
Even more encouragingly, Ada users report a positive impact on their knowledge, skills, and attitudes to computer science. Teachers report that, as a result of using Ada, their computer science subject knowledge and their confidence in teaching has increased, and report similar benefits for their students.
“They can easily…recap and see how they’ve been getting on with the different topic areas.” — GCSE and A level computer science teacher
“I see they’re answering the questions and learning things without really realising it, which is quite nice.” — GCSE and A level computer science teacher
How do we use people’s feedback to improve the platform?
Our content team is made up of experienced computer science teachers, and we’re always updating the site in response to feedback from the teachers and students who use our resources. We receive feedback through support tickets, and we have a monthly meeting where we comb through every wrong answer that students entered to help us identify new misconceptions. We then use all of this to improve the content, and the feedback we give students on the platform.
We’d love to hear from you
We’ll be conducting another round of surveys later this year, so when you see the link, please fill in the form. In the meantime, if you have any feedback or suggestions for improvements, please get in touch.
And if you’ve not signed up to Ada yet as a teacher or student, you can take a look right now over at adacomputerscience.org
It may not get as much attention as NASA, Roscosmos, or even CNSA (China National Space Administration), but India’s space program has achieved some impressive goals. Just last year, in August of 2023, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) completed their first soft landing on a celestial object with the Chandrayaan-3’s moon landing. That understandably inspired pride among Indians and the YouTube channel Science 4 U celebrated by building this model of the Chandrayaan-3 launch.
This project can be completed with some everyday materials and a few inexpensive components. When ready, it counts down from 10. At zero, the rocket climbs the launch pad’s structure. That rocket is a small model that makers can fabricate on any 3D printer. The launch pad and structure is mostly foam packing material.
The electronics consist of a low-speed geared DC motor, a relay module, an OLED screen, a battery holder, and an Arduino UNO Rev3 board. The Arduino starts by displaying the numerical countdown on the OLED screen. After the countdown completes, the Arduino switches on the relay. That completes the motor circuit, allowing current to flow from the AA batteries to the motor. The running motor winds in a string that pulls the rocket up the structure.
There doesn’t seem to be any switch or sensor to turn off the motor, so the user will have to program a timer to switch the relay. There also isn’t any hardware to reverse the motor polarity, so the user has to lower the rocket manually after a launch. But this is an inexpensive and fun project that should be perfect for students in India who are excited by Chandrayaan-3.
AI models for general-purpose programming, such as OpenAI Codex, which powers the AI pair programming tool GitHub Copilot, have the potential to significantly impact how we teach and learn programming.
The basis of these tools is a ‘natural language to code’ approach, also called natural language programming. This allows users to generate code using a simple text-based prompt, such as “Write a simple Python script for a number guessing game”. Programming-specific AI models are trained on vast quantities of text data, including GitHub repositories, to enable users to quickly solve coding problems using natural language.
As a computing educator, you might ask what the potential is for using these tools in your classroom. In our latest research seminar, Majeed Kazemitabaar (University of Toronto) shared his work in developing AI-assisted coding tools to support students during Python programming tasks.
Evaluating the benefits of natural language programming
Majeed argued that natural language programming can enable students to focus on the problem-solving aspects of computing, and support them in fixing and debugging their code. However, he cautioned that students might become overdependent on the use of ‘AI assistants’ and that they might not understand what code is being outputted. Nonetheless, Majeed and colleagues were interested in exploring the impact of these code generators on students who are starting to learn programming.
Using AI code generators to support novice programmers
In one study, the team Majeed works in investigated whether students’ task and learning performance was affected by an AI code generator. They split 69 students (aged 10–17) into two groups: one group used a code generator in an environment, Coding Steps, that enabled log data to be captured, and the other group did not use the code generator.
Learners who used the code generator completed significantly more authoring tasks — where students manually write all of the code — and spent less time completing them, as well as generating significantly more correct solutions. In multiple choice questions and modifying tasks — where students were asked to modify a working program — students performed similarly whether they had access to the code generator or not.
A test was administered a week later to check the groups’ performance, and both groups did similarly well. However, the ‘code generator’ group made significantly more errors in authoring tasks where no starter code was given.
Majeed’s team concluded that using the code generator significantly increased the completion rate of tasks and student performance (i.e. correctness) when authoring code, and that using code generators did not lead to decreased performance when manually modifying code.
Finally, students in the code generator group reported feeling less stressed and more eager to continue programming at the end of the study.
Student perceptions when (not) using AI code generators
Understanding how novices use AI code generators
In a related study, Majeed and his colleagues investigated how novice programmers used the code generator and whether this usage impacted their learning. Working with data from 33 learners (aged 11–17), they analysed 45 tasks completed by students to understand:
The context in which the code generator was used
What learners asked for
How prompts were written
The nature of the outputted code
How learners used the outputted code
Their analysis found that students used the code generator for the majority of task attempts (74% of cases) with far fewer tasks attempted without the code generator (26%). Of the task attempts made using the code generator, 61% involved a single prompt while only 8% involved decomposition of the task into multiple prompts for the code generator to solve subgoals; 25% used a hybrid approach — that is, some subgoal solutions being AI-generated and others manually written.
In a comparison of students against their post-test evaluation scores, there were positive though not statistically significant trends for students who used a hybrid approach (see the image below). Conversely, negative though not statistically significant trends were found for students who used a single prompt approach.
A positive correlation between hybrid programming and post-test scores
Though not statistically significant, these results suggest that the students who actively engaged with tasks — i.e. generating some subgoal solutions, manually writing others, and debugging their own written code — performed better in coding tasks.
Majeed concluded that while the data showed evidence of self-regulation, such as students writing code manually or adding to AI-generated code, students frequently used the output from single prompts in their solutions, indicating an over-reliance on the output of AI code generators.
He suggested that teachers should support novice programmers to write better quality prompts to produce better code.
If you want to learn more, you can watch Majeed’s seminar:
The focus of our ongoing seminar series is on teaching programming with or without AI.
For our next seminar on Tuesday16 April at 17:00–18:30 GMT, we’re joined by Brett Becker (University College Dublin), who will discuss how generative AI may be effectively utilised in secondary school programming education and how it can be leveraged so that students can be best prepared for whatever lies ahead. To take part in the seminar, click the button below to sign up, and we will send you information about joining. We hope to see you there.
When you think of automation, what’s the first image that comes to mind?
For many of us, it’s a robot. From the blocky, square-headed characters of sci-fi comic fame to household more complex creations like the Replicants of Blade Runner — robots have captured our collective imagination for a long time.
It’s no surprise, then, that lots of Arduino users eventually set out to build a robot of their own.
In this article, we’ll look at how to build your own robot with Arduino and share some project examples from other makers.
What exactly is a robot?
The term “robot” can cover a lot of potential meanings, so let’s agree on a definition.
Here’s what the Oxford Dictionary says:
“(especially in science fiction) a machine resembling a human being and able to replicate certain human movements and functions automatically.”
It’s a good start, but do all robots resemble humans? Here’s Oxford’s second definition:
“a machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer.”
This seems more accurate since it encompasses things like construction robots, robotic pets, and robotic vehicles.
Humans have been attempting to build robots for centuries, although most of our success has taken place within the last few decades. Today, thanks to advancements in hardware and automation technology, almost anyone can build their own robots at home.
What do you need to build a robot?
Building your own robot might seem like an unimaginably complex task. After all, aren’t robots the stuff of sci-fi movies and leaked military prototypes?
The good news is that building a robot doesn’t have to be a monumental undertaking, and can in fact be done with some fairly simple and easily obtained components.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Some simple components like wheels, sensors, and switches (this will vary greatly depending on the type of robot you’re planning to build)
Some basic coding and automation skills (you don’t need to be a coding wizard)
This is, of course, just a starting point. You can build a fairly simple robot, or you can ramp up the complexity and sophistication as much as you like — the sky really is the limit here. For beginners, though, you can find everything you need at the hardware store.
Explore Arduino robots
With Arduino’s products and other components, it’s possible to build your own robots more easily than ever before.
We need to look no further than the Arduino Project Hub to find a ton of inspiring ideas. Let’s explore a few.
Line-following robot
Robots don’t have to be ultra-complex humanoid feats of engineering.
In fact, if you’re just getting started with robotics, it helps to keep things simple. Check out this great example — it’s a simple, car-shaped robot designed to follow a colored line on the floor.
The robot constantly monitors data from its infrared sensors in real time and adjusts movement based on feedback, ensuring it never strays from the line.
If this kind of project interests you, you’ll love the upcoming Arduino Alvik, which will have a line-follower functionality. Alvik’s user-friendly interface makes MicroPython coding and robotics project development easier than ever, making learning and creating a breeze.
Alvik is also equipped with a range of sensors including a ToF distance sensor, line follower array, color sensor, and more. It’s especially impressive when it comes to swiftly detecting and navigating obstacles and colors.
Did you think playing music was a uniquely human trait?
Well… think again — this musically-inclined robot is capable of controlling piano keys automatically. The device was able to play piano keys 1,875 times in the space of a minute, beating the human world record by a significant margin.
The project used a range of tools including solenoids and a custom-designed Java software interface.
A chess-playing robot arm
Robots have been giving us humans a run for our money in the world of chess for quite some time.
For a new spin on the machines vs. humans saga, take a look at this robotic arm capable of physically moving the chess pieces.
The arm was created using a 3D printer and works by using a visual recognition system to watch the opponent’s move and then formulate a response.
One of the most interesting things about this robot is the code used for move recognition. Because the robot uses visual recognition to follow the human’s moves, there’s no need for additional complex hardware like reed switches to be built into the chessboard, unlike other chess-playing robots.
Stay tuned for Robotics Week!
If you have a passion for building robots or just want to learn more about this topic, you’ll love Robotics Week, which takes place this year from April 6th-13th.
It’s a full week of events — many of which are virtual — all centered around robotics and STEM.
In the meantime, visit our Project Hub for more inspiration — where you can search by category and difficulty level. And don’t forget to share your own projects with our community!
The objective benefits may be almost nonexistent today, but there is still something satisfying about rowing through the gears in a car with a manual transmission. If that car was made in the past couple of decades, there is a good chance that it has an indicator on the dash to tell you what gear you’re in. But older cars usually don’t have an indicator, which is why you might want to follow Vaclav Krejci’s guide to add one.
The great thing about this project is that it is easy to perform — even for beginners. Gearheads that don’t typically touch electronics can complete this build with some patience. Once done, it will display the current gear and a visual diagram on a small OLED screen, which the user can then mount anywhere in their car.
This works using an arrangement of four Hall effect sensors that detect the strength of the magnetic field coming from a permanent magnet attached to the gear shift lever. The principle is similar to triangulation, because the values detected by the four sensors can be used to calculate the position of the magnet. That isn’t very precise, but it doesn’t need to be for an application like this.
The four Hall effect sensors mount onto a custom PCB. That connects to an Arduino UNO Rev3, which the user can tuck away inside of a center console. The Arduino performs the calculations, then updates the OLED screen with the results. Krejci even demonstrates how the user can simulate the entire circuit using WOKWI, which is very useful for ironing out kinks before building a hardware prototype.
We’re really excited to see that Experience AI Challenge mentors are starting to submit AI projects created by young people. There’s still time for you to get involved in the Challenge: the submission deadline is 24 May 2024.
If you want to find out more about the Challenge, join our live webinar on Wednesday 3 April at 15:30 BST on our YouTube channel.
Ask your questions live. Get any Challenge-related queries answered by us in real time. Whether you need clarification on any part of the Challenge or just want advice on your young people’s project(s), this is your chance to ask.
Get introduced to the submission process. Understand the steps of submitting projects to the Challenge. We’ll walk you through the requirements and offer tips for making your young people’s submission stand out.
Learn more about our project feedback. Find out how we will deliver our personalised feedback on submitted projects (UK only).
Find out how we will recognise your creators’ achievements. Learn more about our showcase event taking place in July, and the certificates and posters we’re creating for you and your young people to celebrate submitting your projects.
The Experience AI Challenge, created by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in collaboration with Google DeepMind, guides young people under the age of 18, and their mentors, through the exciting process of creating their own unique artificial intelligence (AI) project. Participation is completely free.
Central to the Challenge is the concept of project-based learning, a hands-on approach that gets learners working together, thinking critically, and engaging deeply with the materials.
In the Challenge, young people are encouraged to seek out real-world problems and create possible AI-based solutions. By taking part, they become problem solvers, thinkers, and innovators.
And to every young person based in the UK who creates a project for the Challenge, we will provide personalised feedback and a certificate of achievement, in recognition of their hard work and creativity. Any projects considered as outstanding by our experts will be selected as favourites and its creators will be invited to a showcase event in the summer.
Resources ready for your classroom or club
You don’t need to be an AI expert to bring this Challenge to life in your classroom or coding club. Whether you’re introducing AI for the first time or looking to deepen your young people’s knowledge, the Challenge’s step-by-step resource pack covers all you and your young people need, from the basics of AI, to training a machine learning model, to creating a project in Scratch.
In the resource pack, you will find:
The mentor guide contains all you need to set up and run the Challenge with your young people
The creator guide supports young people throughout the Challenge and contains talking points to help with planning and designing projects
The blueprint workbook helps creators keep track of their inspiration, ideas, and plans during the Challenge
The pack offers a safety net of scaffolding, support, and troubleshooting advice.
Find out more about the Experience AI Challenge
By bringing the Experience AI Challenge to young people, you’re inspiring the next generation of innovators, thinkers, and creators. The Challenge encourages young people to look beyond the code, to the impact of their creations, and to the possibilities of the future.
You can find out more about the Experience AI Challenge, and download the resource pack, from the Experience AI website.
An upgrade over the HMI3010 models, the HMI3020 adds RS232 and RS485 interfaces, as well as 3.5mm headphone and mic jacks. The key addition, however, is an M.2 socket. To access it, you’ll need to unscrew Raspberry Pi 5 and the case from the rear of the unit, then you can use the M.2 slot inside to add an NVMe 2230, 2242, or 2260 SSD.
Touch control
Our unit’s microSD card had Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm pre-installed with the drivers for the ten-point touchscreen, which worked instantly upon bootup. As we’ve found with other Raspberry Pi touchscreens, there’s no right-click functionality by default and we also couldn’t double-click files to open them (so had to enable one-click opening in the File Manager). There was no on-screen keyboard available either, though we managed to get one running with a workaround from the Raspberry Pi forums.
The EDI-HMI3020 also comes with an optional 8MP front-facing camera – a Camera Module V2 – for video conferencing and suchlike, making it a versatile touchscreen tablet.
Verdict
8/10
A robust touchscreen panel with well-protected Raspberry Pi 5 mounted on the rear and the option to add an M.2 SSD
Specs
Features: 10.1-inch screen with ten-point touch input, Raspberry Pi with 4GB or 8GB RAM, optional front-facing camera
Ports: 2 × USB 3.0, 2 × USB 2.0, 1 × USB-C power, 2 × micro-HDMi, Ethernet (with optional PoE), RS232 and RS485, M.2 SSD socket (internal)
Racing “video games” can be incredibly realistic these days, with every facet of the car’s physics and their interaction with the asphalt programmed in. Those racing sims could provide a completely immersive experience — if the player wasn’t sitting on a motionless couch using a controller that doesn’t resemble a car’s steering wheel in the slightest. To rectify that issue, high school student Pranshu Agnihotri built his dream racing wheel.
Agnihotri tackled this project for a senior project in his Principles of Engineering class at Irvington High School. Its purpose is to provide a more realistic interface for racing games and sims. It doesn’t have any force feedback capabilities, but it will work with any PC game thanks to the Arduino that lets the user easily rebind controls. Those can even emulate keyboard and mouse inputs for games that weren’t designed for use with steering wheels.
The brain is an Arduino Leonardo, which Agnihotri chose for its Microchip ATmega32U4 microcontroller. That is configurable as a standard USB HID, so any computer will recognize its inputs without any special drivers or software. The steering wheel and electronics enclosure were 3D-printed in exactly the shape Agnihotri wanted. An M8 threaded shaft acts as the steering column. A potentiometer provides steering angle input, while limit switches detect when the player presses the paddle shifters. The Arduino reads those inputs, then sends out the corresponding gamepad, keyboard, or mouse commands via USB.
We love hearing from members of the community and sharing the stories of inspiring young people, volunteers, and educators all over the world who have a passion for technology.
Micah attends a Code Club in a library in Leeds, UK.
With this latest story, we’re taking you to Leeds, UK, to meet Micah, a young space enthusiast whose confidence has soared since he started attending a Code Club at his local library.
Computing skills are essential in today’s world, and Micah’s mum Catherine was keen for him to be introduced to coding from a young age.
While Micah is known to people close to him for his inquisitive nature, cheeky behaviour, and quick-witted sense of humour, he can be a little shy when meeting new people. And he isn’t always keen on his mum’s suggestions about trying new things and attending after-school clubs! However, when Catherine saw there was a Code Club running at their local library, she knew it was the perfect opportunity for Micah to try out computing.
Micah’s mum Catherine took the opportunity to get Micah introduced to coding at their local Code Club.
What Catherine didn’t know is that not only would Micah find out he was a talented coder, but Code Club would also set the path for him to become a regular attendee at many of the library’s other clubs.
Opportunities for young coders
Based in Leeds, the Compton Centre Code Club is part of the Leeds Libraries network, which runs seven Code Clubs throughout the city. Liam, Senior Librarian for Digital at Leeds Libraries, described the importance of these spaces for the community and for engaging children in tech:
“Libraries are safe spaces that provide free access to exciting and innovative technology to those in our communities who might not get that opportunity. We’re proud that our Code Clubs can support young people to engage with tech, learn some new skills, and meet like-minded peers in a friendly and positive environment.
Our Code Clubs are aimed at 9- to 13-year-olds. We do have some learners that will come that have a younger sister or brother that wants to get involved as well. We never want to turn anyone away. So we’re more than welcoming for that age group to come in and have a play, get used to the equipment, and join in.”
— Liam, Senior Librarian for Digital at Leeds Libraries
Coding and confidence
Code Club provides a safe and friendly space for Micah to connect with other children, and he has embraced coding with enthusiasm. This is possible thanks to the work, support, and encouragement of Micah’s Code Club mentor Basia (they/them), the librarian at the Compton Centre who runs the club.
“Micah loves coming [to Code Club] and learning all the different things that he can do with coding. And he also loves Basia. They’re brilliant and run the club really well. It’s a super child-friendly place to be and he loves the support that he gets from them.”
– Catherine, Micah’s mum
Support from an inspiring mentor is so often an important part of a young coder’s journey, and Basia’s own journey from a coding beginner to a confident mentor highlights the positive influence Code Club has on both children and mentors.
Micah loves coming to Code Club and being mentored by the club leader, librarian Basia.
Basia reflected on how they felt when they first heard they were going to be running Code Club sessions, and how their skills and confidence have grown.
“I was daunted for a bit. But actually one of the first things I did when I started this job was to go through some of [the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s] resources and do a project in Scratch. And it was just so simple and straightforward. You know, all the resources are absolutely great and I don’t really need to think about it. I think my confidence has increased quite significantly.”
— Basia, Librarian and Code Club mentor
Since joining Code Club, Micah has become involved in other extracurricular activities, like Lego club and drama club. These experiences have contributed to Micah’s overall personal growth, showcasing the transformative power of Code Club for children.
Code Clubs are save and friendly spaces for learning.
Micah has exciting dreams for the future, including becoming an astrophysicist, a marine biologist, and the founder of a company named Save The Planet. Supported by dedicated mentors like Basia, Code Clubs are not just about teaching coding — they are helping shape the leaders of tomorrow.
Inspire young people in your community
If you are interested in encouraging your child to explore coding, take a look at the free coding project resources we have available to support you. If you would like to set up a Code Club for young people in your community, head to codeclub.org for information and support.
Help us celebrate Micah and his inspiring journey by sharing his story on X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, and Facebook.
This year we have so many talks, presentations, and announcements we had to spread out over three days! Arduino Days 2024 will be held from March 21st to 23rd – giving us more time to celebrate our community with our yearly event: 100% online, free, and open to all.
The full schedule is now available on the dedicated Arduino Days website: explore the program to find the topics that are the most inspiring or interesting to you, and turn on notifications for the three YouTube lives linked below.
Day #1: March 21st from 3:30 PM CET — Let’s Get to Business
We start off with a day dedicated to innovative transformation for professionals. From Bob Martin (Wizard of Make / Senior Staff Engineer at Microchip) and Foundries.io CEO George Gray, to founder and CEO of Blues Ray Ozzie and Bosch general manager Marcellino Gemelli – you’ll hear from a variety of pros who are leveraging the open-source ecosystem to innovate their industry with flexible, reliable, out-of-the-box solutions.
Day #2: March 22nd from 3:30 PM CET —Makers in the Making
On the second day, the spotlight turns to the educators who embrace Arduino as a platform to teach STEM and engage students of all ages and skill levels. Discover how teachers can use Arduino’s Science Kit R3 to reveal the beauty of physics in Alan Bates’ talk, or find out how Alvik supports MicroPython beginners with project-based learning in Austin Gardner’s. And don’t miss new product presentations: we’re excited to introduce you to the upcoming PLC Starter Kit!
Day #3: March 23rd from 3: 30 PM CET —All About the Community
Last, but definitely not least, Saturday will be a huge celebration of makers’ diverse skills and passions! Join this third awesome session to hear about a variety of original projects presented by their own creators, and dive deep into topics ranging from accessibility (with inventor Danielle Boyer) to product quality testing. Don’t miss our partner talks – with STMicroelectronics, Analog Devices, and more – and keep an ear out for our latest major announcements, including one for the new product we’ve been working on with Silicon Labs.
We hope you’ll join us to celebrate Arduino Days live on YouTube, and let us know what your favorite sessions are in the chat comments.
Don’t forget there will also be dozens of in-person independent events around the world: check out the Arduino Days website in a few days for the official map!
No matter how you decide to show your love for open source, we look forward to seeing you at Arduino Days!
This “coming soon” announcement we’re going to many different places with Game Pass, including the Old West, the open road, the other roads meant for toy themed cars, and even going to hell. That’s just a small taste of where Game Pass is taking us, so let’s dive in!
Available Today
Lightyear Frontier (Game Preview) (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) Available on day one with Game Pass: Start your interstellar homestead in this peaceful open-world farming adventure! Build your sustainable exofarm, grow alien crops, customize your mech, and explore a new world full of mystery with up to three friends!
MLB The Show 24 (Cloud and Console) Available on day one with Game Pass: Swing for the fences, experience game-deciding moments, become a legend and live out your baseball dreams in MLB The Show 24.
Coming Soon
The Quarry (Cloud and Console) – March 20 When the sun goes down on the last night of summer camp, nine teenage counselors are plunged into an unpredictable night of horror. The only thing worse than the blood-drenched locals and creatures hunting them are the unimaginable choices you must make to help them survive.
Evil West (Cloud, Console, and PC) – March 21 A dark menace consumes the Old West. In solo or co-op, fight with style in visceral, explosive combat against bloodthirsty monstrosities. Eradicate the vampiric hordes with your lightning-fueled gauntlet and become a Wild West Superhero.
Terra Invicta (Game Preview) (PC) – March 26 From the creators of Long War, an alien invasion has fractured humanity into seven ideological factions each with a unique vision for the future. Lead your chosen faction to take control of Earth’s nations, expand across the Solar System, and battle enemy fleets in tactical combat.
Diablo IV (Console and PC) – March 28 The next-gen action RPG experience is coming to Game Pass with endless evil to slaughter, countless abilities to master, nightmarish dungeons, and legendary loot. Experience a gripping story or jump straight into Season of the Construct to unearth a new threat looming deep beneath the sands of Kehjistan.
Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 – Turbocharged (Cloud, Console, and PC) – March 28 Get behind the wheel of the coolest cars and vehicles from the Hot Wheels universe, including the new ATVs and motorcycles. Explore 5 new stunning environments and race the way you want with new mechanics in exciting challenges and crazy game modes!
Open Roads (Cloud, Console, and PC) – March 28 Available on day one with Game Pass: Long-lost family secrets. Hints of a hidden fortune. And miles to go before they sleep. Tess Devine’s relationship with her mom has never been easy, but they’re about to set out together on a journey into the past that they’ll never forget.
Ark: Survival Ascended (Cloud, PC, Xbox Series X|S) – April 1 Respawn into a new dinosaur survival experience as Ark is reimagined from the ground-up into the next-generation with Unreal Engine 5! Are you ready to form a tribe, tame and breed hundreds of species of dinosaurs and other primeval creatures, explore, craft, build, and fight your way to the top of the food-chain? Your new world awaits!
F1 23 (Cloud) EA Play – April 2 EA Sports’ F1 23 will be available with Xbox Cloud Gaming via EA Play. Test your driving talents, create your dream team, and be the last to brake in the official video game of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship.
Superhot: Mind Control Delete (Cloud, Console, and PC) – April 2 Making a return to the Game Pass library! Time moves only when you move. Superhot: Mind Control Delete gives you more insight into the signature power fantasy world of Superhot with more story, more signature gameplay, more action, more guns. Keep dancing the slow-motion ballet of destruction for so much longer than ever before.
In Case You Missed It
NBA 2K24 (Cloud and Console) – Available now Strive for greatness with NBA 2K24 – experience a collection of competitive game modes and immerse yourself in a sports simulation unlike any other. NBA 2K24 boasts a variety of exciting game modes, now available for all Ultimate Game Pass Subscribers. We’ll see you on the court!
DLC / Game Updates
Fallout 76: America’s Playground – March 26 Experience a new Fallout story set in the fading glitz and glam of Atlantic City. In this intrepid return visit to New Jersey, players will work together with competing local factions to take on a new threat lying in wait deep within the New Jersey Pine Barrens.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Scions of Ithelia DLC – March 26 A challenging new dungeon crawling adventure awaits in the Scions of Ithelia DLC. Do you have what it takes to emerge victorious? Conquer both dungeons to unlock unique rewards, including new item sets, collectibles, achievements, and more. Game Pass members can save 10% on their purchase of Crowns to use towards the Scions of Ithelia DLC in the Crown Store.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Perks
Persona 3 Reload: Expansion Pass – Available now Dive deeper into the world of Persona 3 Reload with this expansion pass featuring upcoming content including new costumes, background music, and extended story content. Play this role-playing turn based content in the expansion pass Episode Aigis -The Answer-, offering over 30 hours of additional gameplay in this reimagining of the genre-defining RPG! This Perk content requires Persona 3 Reload to use, available now with Game Pass Ultimate.
Super Animal Royale Spring Perks Pack – Available now Take your animal apparel to the next level with the Super Animal Royale – Spring Perks Pack. Claw your way to the top of the food chain in style with this exclusive set of cosmetics in this 64-player, top-down 2D battle royale. This Perk content requires Super Animal Royale, available free-to-play.
Smite Netherbeasts Perk – Available now Play the all new Netherbeasts Event in the popular action MOBA, Smite. Unlock the Gods, Voice Packs, Emotes for: Chaac, Cernunnos, and Cerberus. Plus enjoy a 3 Day Account Booster! This Perk content requires Smite to use, available free-to-play.
Leaving March 31
The following games are leaving the Game Pass library soon, be sure to show them some love before they go or consider using your 20% membership discount on your purchase to keep them in your library!
Hot Wheels Unleashed (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Infinite Guitars (Cloud, Console, and PC)
MLB The Show 23 (Cloud and Console)
Time for me to decide what my next Diablo IV build will be (spoiler alert it is probably going to be another necromancer). Let us know what you’re pushing the leaderboards with over at @Xbox, @XboxGamePass or @XboxGamePassPC. See you next time!
Through the Hello World podcast, we help to connect computing educators around the world and share their experiences. In each episode, we expand on a topic from a recent Hello World magazine issue. After 5 seasons, and a break last year, we are back with season 6 today.
Episode 1: Do kids still need to learn how to code?
Joining my co-host Veronica and me are two computing educators: Pete Dring, Head of Computing at Fulford School in York, and Chris Coetzee, a computer science teacher for 24 years and currently a PhD student in Computer Science Education at Abertay Dundee. Given the recent developments in AI-based code generators, we talk about whether such tools will remove our learners’ need to learn to code or simply change what coding, and learning to code, looks like*.
What’s coming up in future episodes?
New episode of season 6 will come out every 2 weeks. In each episode we explore computing, coding, and digital making education by delving into an exciting topic together with our guests: experts, practitioners, and other members of the Hello World community.
Also in season 6, we’ll explore:
The role of computing communities
We discuss the value and importance of being connected to other computing educators through the many different teaching communities that exist around the world. What makes effective communities, and how do we build and sustain them?
Why is understanding cybersecurity so important?
From classroom lessons to challenges and competitions, there are lots of opportunities for learners to discover cybersecurity. There are also many pitfalls where learners’ online activities put them at risk of breaking the law. We discuss some of these pitfalls along with the many career opportunities in cybersecurity.
How to develop as a computing educator?
What is involved in becoming an effective computing educator? What knowledge, skills, and behaviours are needed, and how do we go about developing them? We sit down with teacher trainers and trainees to explore this topic.
What is the state of computing education and where is it heading?
Computing education has come a long way in the last decade in terms of practice and policy, as well as research. Together with our guests we discuss where computing education is today around the world, and we consider the lessons we can learn and the challenges ahead
What is the role of AI in your classroom?
AI continues to be a disruptive technology in many spaces, and the classroom is no exception. We hear examples of practices and approaches being explored by teachers in the classroom.
Listen and subscribe today
If you’ve not listened to the Hello World podcast yet, there are 5 whole seasons for you to discover. We talk about everything from ecology and quantum computing to philosophy, ethics, and inclusion, and our conversations always focus on the practicalities of teaching in the classroom.
Many of our podcast guests are Hello World authors, so if you’re an educator who wants to share your insights into how to teach young people about digital technology, please let us know. Your words could end up in the pages as well as on the airwaves of Hello World.
You’ll find the upcoming Hello World season and past episodes on your favourite podcast platform, including YouTube now, where you can also subscribe to never miss an episode. Alternatively, you can listen here via your browser.
* If you want to dive into the newest research on programming education with and without AI, check out our current seminar series.
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