When it comes to introducing the world of programming, coding and hackery, we all know what platforms to go to: Raspberry Pi, Arduino... Sphero?
This little white ball, controllable with your smartphone, is positioning itself not only as a seriously fun toy for tormenting your pets with, but also as a gateway to the programming state of mind for kids. "A lot of teaching kids to program involves delayed gratification," says Belinda Parmar, CEO of Lady Geek, a UK social entreprise that is using Sphero as part of their Little Miss Geek programme to inspire girls to change the world through technology. "There is a lot of knowledge you need to acquire before you can do cool stuff".
With Sphero and its entry-level programming app MacroLab, the gratification is instant. It lets you programme a series of bundled pieces of code that the ball then follows. It's basic stuff, it doesn't teach a programming language, but it does do something important: it puts kids in the frame of mine of "technology is something I can programme." "For girls new to programming, an instant reward is particularly important and can inspire much deeper levels of engagement," says Parmar.
Sphero was launched in 2011 and quickly gained attention as a straightforward, fun piece of technology. From the very start, the company behind the toy, Orbotix, has taken the approach that it should be as programmable as possible. It's higher-level programming app, OrbBasic, is the same tool that its in-house team use when tinkering. "There aren't that many consumer products out there, if any, that are as programmable as this," says Chuck Lepley, marketing director for Orbotix.
The company has just released an updated version of the toy, including a special Apple-only version with a transparent iMac-esque case.
But as the company has developed, educational uses for its products have become increasingly important. It's started to put together curriculums for teaching programming, says Lepley, and are working on a "Sphero EDU" programme. For teaching programming, "the number one advantage of Sphero is that it's fun," says Repley.
Teaching coding and computer science is the fashinoable thing in education at the moment. The new school curriculum in the UK emphasises computer science and George Osborne has spoken of the need to teach kids to code. Everyone and their dog recognises the need to equip children for a future where coding literacy is almost as important as written literacy.
Sphero isn't going to help kids create weather stations, but it might set them on the path that leads them there. And it's another reminder that the best way to get teach children is to make sure they don't realise that they're learning at all.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
