AN EDUCATIVE PLATFORM BASED ON MAKECODE, CIRCUITPYTHON & SCRATCH FOR CREATIVITY AND PARTICIPATORY SCIENCES USING IOT BOARDS
STEAM education represents a paradigm shift from traditional education philosophy, based on standardized evaluation, to a modern ideal which focuses on valuing the learning process as much as the results. It is expected that between 2017 and 2027, the jobs that will require STEAM skills and competences will grow by 13%.
To tackle this challenge, schools in Europe must implement STEAM strategies and pedagogies to promote interdisciplinary and innovative initiatives within the classrooms.
In the framework of the STEAM movement, many platforms and tools for education based on digital learning, programming and computational thinking have emerged to help the teachers to develop new contents and new skills to motivate the students to become more actors than attendees.
This is the case of the platforms Scratch, MakeCode and CircuitPython.
This trend is nowadays visible in all European countries and should be tackled at International scale. Even if since the creation of the tools, many changes and optimizations have been done, their full potential is often not completely used or understood from the teachers depending on their own initial training on computational thinking and basic digital skills.
Programming is a sensible, creative and reflective activity.
It allows to implement a computational thinking that commits the learner in an active approach of problem solving.
Margarida Romero. Full professor. Learning, INnovation and Education (LINE) lab head. Partner of the Let's STEAM project

SCRATCH
With Scratch, you can program your own interactive stories, games, linked to electronics boards, and animations — and share your creations with others in the online community.
Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.
Scratch is a project of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. It is provided free of charge.

MAKECODE
Microsoft MakeCode is a free, open source platform for creating engaging computer science learning experiences that support a progression path into real-world programming.
Microsoft MakeCode brings computer science to life for all students with fun projects, immediate results, and both block and text editors for learners at different levels.

CIRCUITPYTHON
CircuitPython is a programming language designed to simplify experimenting and learning to code on low-cost microcontroller boards.
It makes getting started easier than ever with no upfront desktop downloads needed. Once you get your board set up, open any text editor, and get started editing code. It's that simple.