BBC micro:bit

From coding to caring: Exploring well-being through micro:bits

Children’s Mental Health Week (5 to 11 February) is a crucial reminder of the importance of looking after the well-being of the young learners who come to Code Club.

A hand holding a micro:bit over a laptop keyboard.
Photo credit: David Bird

There are many ways that we can support mental health and well-being through technology. Our ‘Introduction to micro:bit’ projects are centred around well-being, and use various applications of technology to cover topics such as mental health, relaxation, and exercise.

Pete Bell, Learning Manager at the Raspberry Pi Foundation, tells us more about the projects in the path:

“This new path allows young people to connect with the world around them by making use of lights, sound, buttons, and sensors. By using these inputs and outputs, combined with block-based programming, young people can develop engaging digital tools that help them be considerate about their own well-being and that of others.”

As young people move through the path, they not only develop new skills, but also learn how to make their own tech tools that they can use to take care of themselves and their friends.

Tracking sleep to promote well-being

A great example is sleep! We all know that a good night’s sleep helps our brains to work better, helps us feel happier, and keeps our bodies healthier. We’ve created a ‘Sleep tracker’ project where young people build a tracker to record the amount of sleep they get with a micro:bit.

Promoting empathy and collaboration

The projects in our micro:bit pathway shows how technology can be used to improve lives. The collaborative nature of Code Club allows learners to engage in discussions, share perspectives, and develop an understanding of one another’s challenges and triumphs. Doing this together makes them understand and care about each other’s feelings, not just in the digital world but in real life too.

Our design project ‘How’s your day?’ is a great example of how young people can use their micro:bit to build a program that checks what kind of day you or your friends are having.

Growing coders’ sense of purpose and agency

Our micro:bit pathway also encourages club members to engage in computing projects that address real-world problems affecting their lives and communities. By empowering them to tackle issues that matter to them, we’re instilling a sense of purpose and agency. This doesn’t just make them more confident at coding but also helps them see the connection between technology and positive social impact.

Young Code Club project tester, James, shares more about our ‘Music Player‘ project and how it has made music that brings him happiness!

Encouraging discussions

Finally, it’s important to provide a safe space for young people to discuss how they deal with things both at home and at school. Coding activities like these projects give you a natural opportunity to start discussions on well-being, where learners can share their strategies for dealing with things and learn how their peers deal with things too. This open dialogue will help them understand that it is OK to react differently to different situations and also give them the tools they need to manage their well-being. 

Support and resources available

If you’re looking to get started with our micro:bit path there is lots of support available to you:

  • Explore the Introduction to micro:bit path.
  • Need help? Our Getting started with micro:bit guide has information and tips to help you use the micro:bit projects in your club.
  • Look out for our micro:bit workshops on the Code Club events page
  • Acknowledge coding wins with our bespoke progress chart
  • Celebrate learners’ success with our micro:bit path certificate
Download our micro:bit progress chart

The progress chart and certificate are available from our resource page under ‘Progress charts’ and ‘Core Code Club certificates’. Login and download!

So why not explore the micro:bit path, encourage conversation around well-being in your Code Club, and learn together this Children’s Mental Week and beyond.

Impala Bridge: How Code Club is helping to bring digital making to Benin

Code Club started in 2012 in the U.K., with the aim to give local children a chance to learn to code. Fast forward ten years and there are Code Clubs in over 160 countries around the world, with partner organisations* working in many regions.

In Benin, Impala Bridge is a partner organisation using Code Club and CoderDojo programmes to give young learners (and educators) access to digital making. Izzy, Global Community Coordinator, caught up with Martin Mbaga, one of the co-founders of Impala Bridge, to find out more.

Local Benin educators

The inspiration

Martin and the other co-founders were inspired by their own experiences; many of the volunteers are former refugees. While living in refugee camps in Belgium, they had the opportunity to learn coding and other digital skills. For Martin, this helped inspire his passion for technology and community outreach: “Belgium has given me something, now I have to give it back.”

How does it work?

Impala Bridge operates in Belgium and Benin. In Belgium, the focus is on refugee camps, teaching coding and robotics. In Benin, they work with other organisations to support Guerra Digital Innovation Hub. Operating in Parakou, North Benin, Guerra helps the community improve their digital literacy in several ways. Educators and volunteers are given training to improve their own digital skills and prepare them to run clubs. In turn, these teachers and volunteers go on to set up Code Clubs in local secondary schools.

Code Club leaders gather together from across Benin

Powered by people

During our conversation, one thing comes up again and again: people. “For me it’s all about people,” Martin says. “School teachers and directors of the schools (particularly our early adopters from Albarika College), IT leaders and ministry workers, the Director of UNFPA (United Nations Fund for Populations) and UN agency innovation teams, without them this wouldn’t work. Giving those people recognition is important.” He also highlights the volunteers, from the edu-lab.be teachers in Belgium connecting with teachers in Benin, to the local university students running clubs, to the schools themselves: “If you don’t have people, you can’t do anything.”

Hopes for 2023 and beyond

Based on the success of the current model, the team at Impala Bridge hopes to expand the area they operate in and increase the number of clubs. They also have plans to create a regular cohort of learners using Micro:bit computers. They have already run several events of this type, and they hope for the learners — mostly girls from the local community — to take part in the annual Micro:bit challenge.

Code Club members

More broadly, Impala Bridge hopes to continue to help the community as a whole. Martin explains that EdTech entrepreneurs who volunteer at Code Clubs have gone on to use their learnings to help create virtual solutions and make jobs. And for the learners themselves, Code Club is opening up new possibilities for their lives: “With IT and globalisation, you can make your future better.”

Find out more about becoming a Code Club partner organisation

*The Raspberry Pi Foundation partners with organisations around the world to help support local Code Club and CoderDojo communities. Growth partners start and support a collection of clubs in their own network, while national partners take on the responsibility of supporting all clubs in their country, building a nationwide CoderDojo or Code Club community.