Per-Ivar Kloen | Karen Blumberg

On Monday, I saw that Sylvia Martinez retweeted something from Per-Ivar Kloen about Paperbits:

#paperbits: A starting resource for @microbit_edu is now available in English! It’s an iteration on @ryanejenkins #scratchpaper idea. Designed as a non-linear resource which deals with a lot of questions starters have. #makered https://t.co/BVOb3ZGE4c pic.twitter.com/LSJm9gYZV0

— Per-Ivar Kloen (@___pi) June 17, 2018

Per-Ivar is a Fab Learn Fellow, and he graciously also shared with me a direct link to the the paper which describes his Paperbits (Paper Circuits with Microbits) project inspiration and process: http://fellows.fablearn.org/circuit-stickers-electronic-circuits-made-of-copper-tape/

I shared this link with Kasie Stark, one of the fabulous Science teachers at The Brearley School. Kasie is leading a MakerLab session during Brearley’s Summer Start program, and she suggested trying out Paperbits with her campers this week. On Monday, Kasie and I met to chat about micro:bits and MakeCode (micro:bit’s JavaScript Blocks editor). We gathered copper tape, LED lights, alligator clips, and Piezo buzzers, and a few copies of Per-Ivar’s Paperbits lessons.

Today, I met Kasie and her campers and we explored together. The girls are both going into 4th grader and have had experiences with littleBits, LEGO WeDo, Scratch, JavaScript, and more. I love working with smart, fearless girls! We treated Per-Ivar’s Paperbits PDF’s as a fun starting point, and then the girls further prototyped with different sequences of blinking lights and different tunes from the buzzers. See images and videos below.