Inventura Experience
Inventura Experience is a pilot programme developed and managed by Positivo Brazil, to bring micro:bits, teacher training and high-quality resources and support to classrooms all over Brazil.
The initial phases of the programme have sought to test content and training materials to develop a workable model for expanding the programme nationwide.
Pilot programme overview
The pilot programme launched at the beginning of March 2019. Schools were selected through a registration process and school interview which assessed the viability of programme under criteria such as the availability of IT labs, connectivity and support from school leadership. These components were considered crucial for teachers to deliver lessons on micro:bit and computational thinking while accessing online resources and support.
Fifty schools took part in the initial phase of the programme with one teacher per school receiving training and access to lesson materials. The next phase began several months later, expanding to an additional fifty public schools. For the new academic year in 2020, a third cohort of fifty schools signed up for the initiaitve.
Across the three cohorts, the programme achieved a vast geographical spread with participating schools located all over Brazil - some even located in the middle of the Amazon rainforest.
Lessons and pedagogy
Schools participating in the pilot programme were required to deliver at least one class per week with the micro:bit, with course materials and activities designed make the initiative relevant to local communities and contexts.
The Inventura course content contains a book of 24 unique micro:bit activities and hardware, plus a teacher supplement. Schools received whole class set of activity books and access to the Inventura Online platform. Through this platform, new content is made available each week in the form of a live webinar, or a ‘show and tell’ opportunity for schools to present projects from the programme in their school.
These teacher packs, which are also available to buy, are available in Portuguese, Spanish and English and are beginning to spread through the whole of Latin America and beyond.
Impact and results
The initial pilot phase is ongoing and by its completion will see:
- 150 schools receiving up to 40 micro:bits, activity sets and accessories
- Over 4000 micro:bits circulated in total
- Up to 20,000 children accessing micro:bit activities and hands-on coding experiences
Research and development
The Inventura Online platform includes problems to solve using micro:bit, the results of which can be published online. This enables the content developers to monitor how students engagement in the activities, rates of student success in completing the lessons as well as the results they record.
Participating schools were also given a survey both before and after taking part in the programme. Questions posed include "have you taken part in any programming activities before?", “how difficult do you find programming?" and "in the future, would you consider a career in computing or electronics?"
This data, which is gathered from students and teachers all over Brazil, helps to build an understanding of perceptions about computing and programming and levels of confidence in the subject. This information can then inform pedagogical approaches and future direction for teacher support and training materials.