It’s estimated that in the next decade 77 percent of jobs will be in technology, while creativity is ranked among the top three skills the World Economic Forum predicts employers will be looking for in candidates. This presents today’s educators and parents with a unique challenge – and opportunity – to help prepare kids today for the digital future and inspire their creativity. And as Microsoft Innovative Educator Pip Cleaves reminds us, one of the most effective and fun ways to teach creativity in the classroom is with coding.
That’s why we’re excited to announce today that we’re joining Cartoon Network and Adafruit to create a set of projects and tutorials to inspire young people to code, create and construct. With fun, whimsical DIY creations such as an electronic crown, a glow-in-the-dark room sign or a paper cup lamp, students can use the Adafruit Circuit Playground Express micro-controller device, Microsoft’s MakeCode coding environment, and Cartoon Network’s most loved characters to learn the basics of coding and let their imagination go wild.
We are angry, frustrated, and in pain because of the violence and murder of Black people by the police because of racism. We are in the fight AGAINST RACISM. George Floyd was murdered, his life stolen. The Adafruit teams have specific actions we’ve done, are doing, and will do together as a company and culture. We are asking the Adafruit community to get involved and share what you are doing. The Adafruit teams will not settle for a hash tag, a Tweet, or an icon change. We will work on real change, and that requires real action and real work together. That is what we will do each day, each month, each year – we will hold ourselves accountable and publish our collective efforts, partnerships, activism, donations, openly and publicly. Our blog and social media platforms will be utilized in actionable ways. Join us and the anti-racist efforts working to end police brutality, reform the criminal justice system, and dismantle the many other forms of systemic racism at work in this country, read more @ adafruit.com/blacklivesmatter
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
MATHEMATICAL!