As engineering and tech jobs become more common in today's economy, STEM educations are becoming more important. But what can schools and parents do to help encourage students to explore the potential of programming and mathematics? One solution is to encourage students to pursue programming by offering them a free computer.
The BBC is teaming up with a series of computer companies to provide over a million children in the U.K. with free computers. The Make It Digital Initiative will give children a Micro Bit computer next fall term. Students will be required to master this new computer, as well as learn two programming languages before they leave secondary school.
The Micro Bit is an "entry-level coding device" that's built following the tradition of the BBC Micro, which was used in the 1980s to introduce thousands of students to a computer. It was designed by a team of technicians from Microsoft, Samsung, ARM and the Raspberry Pi.
"[The Micro Bit] is designed to be a starting point to get younger children interesting in coding so they can move onto other, more complex devices in future," according to the BBC.
Kids will be able to move from the Micro Bit to other higher-level programming computers, such as the Raspberry Pi or the Galileo.
Why is coding education so important? Codeacademy's head of UK Operations Rachel Swidenbank told CNET that "Programming is becoming the language of the 21st century....Anyone anywhere should have access to be able to learn these skills."
On top of providing students with computer skills, the Make It Digital Initiative will also offer a 9-week apprenticeship program that will help unemployed individuals develop programming skills. BBC will also start creating programming that is designed to promote and explore programming. These will reportedly include a new drama about the making of the Grand Theft Auto games, Radio 4 programmes about the history of coding and documentaries about Ada Lovelace and Alan Turing.
