Year 5 Enjoy a Good Crumble!!
This term the school has borrowed a set of fifteen mini computers called Crumbles from the Devon Computing hub based in Exeter. The Crumbles are small computers (about 3 cm by 5cm) that can store code in a small memory and control connected devices including motors, LEDs called Sparkles, switches and buzzers. The children connect the Crumbles to laptops using a USB cable and write their own code using an APP very similar to Scratch. This type of learning, when the children write code to control actual events in the real world, is called physical computing and is an area of enthusiasm for Head of Computing at Sturminster High Sarah Broughton. Sarah has been very helpful with this project by training Mr Hull at a workshop with other primary schools including staff from Shillingstone, and by offering to help after school when some of the equipment was not working properly. The children in Year 5 have really enjoyed the programming, developing their resilience, debugging and problem solving skills. It is hoped that the school will be able to borrow the equipment next year and eventually purchase its own set of Crumbles.
