Programmable Hardware BBC Micro:Bit as a Tool for Developing Teacher Competencies

Abstract

The teacher’s portfolio presenting the mastery of competencies focused on the student, the educational process and professional development is an important part of a teacher’s career growth in Slovakia. The teacher must demonstrate that they are able to innovate learning practices, considering the educational needs of each pupil. Programmable hardware that is easy and fast to use allows teachers to make computer science lessons more attractive to students on the one hand and increase teacher self-confidence on the other. We decided to be the first working group in Slovakia that create a project to implement the innovation at national level education by using physical computing principles to develop student’s digital skills. In cooperation with Slovak mobile company, we have realized the project, focused on education with the BBC micro:bit in Slovak schools. Thanks to the project teachers could have not only hardware but also access to information they needed to start teaching with BBC micro:bit. It helped to eliminate the problems with how to start and teachers could focus on the students. After teaching with micro:bit teachers were more motivated and confident. Based on the post-questionnaire, we found that computer science teachers perceive their competencies higher than before the start of the project.