Learning about energy use with the micro:bit
Whatever age students you teach, our free energy awareness lessons and projects empower them to collect data, learn more about their environment, and propose changes to modify behaviour to save money and perhaps help reduce climate change.
In these lessons, students:
- learn about how sensors and computers are used together to collect useful data
- plan where to place light sensors in order to ensure the data is reliable
- collect and collate data in simple tables, bar graphs or spreadsheets
- make inferences about energy use from the data they've gathered
- make suggestions to their peers, school leaders or parents about modifying behaviour to save energy
- extension tasks enable students to discover how to convert units and calculate energy usage in watts and kilowatt hours (kWh) to show how much money could be saved
These projects make a great addition to work on the climate change Global Goal for sustainable development and our global challenge, do your :bit.
Download our energy awareness lessons, use them as they are or adapt them to suit your needs, whether you're teaching a full six weeks of lessons, or picking individual activities for use in an after-school club:
Quick projects
We've also made related quick projects with video guides and working code in MakeCode and Python.
- plan where you'll take your light readings by making a micro:bit light meter
- start timing how long lights are left on
- then measure the cost of the electricity used
Measure the strength of light in different places
Time how long your lights are on
Calculate your energy costs
Video guides
These short videos introduce the energy use projects and the micro:bit's built-in light sensor. They make great starters and talking points for your students.
