Today we’re publishing a position paper setting out five arguments for why we think that kids still need to learn to code in the age of artificial intelligence.
Generated using ChatGPT.
Just like every wave of technological innovation that has come before, the advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are raising profound questions about the future of human work. History teaches us that technology has the potential to both automate and augment human effort, destroying some jobs and creating new ones. The only thing we know for sure is that it is impossible to predict the precise nature and pace of the changes that are coming.
One of the fastest-moving applications of generative AI technologies are the systems that can generate code. What started as the coding equivalent of autocomplete has quickly progressed to tools that can generate increasingly complex code from natural language prompts.
This has given birth to the notion of “vibe-coding” and led some commentators to predict the end of the software development industry as we know it. It shouldn’t be a surprise then that there is a vigorous debate about whether kids still need to learn to code.
In the position paper we put forward five arguments for why we think the answer is an unequivocal yes.
First, we argue that even in a world where AI can generate code, we need skilled human programmers who can think critically, solve problems, and make ethical decisions. The large language models that underpin these tools are probabilistic systems designed to provide statistically acceptable outputs and, as any skilled software engineer will tell you, simply writing more code faster isn’t necessarily a good thing.
Learning to code is an essential part of learning to program
Learning to code is the most effective way we know for a young person to develop the mental models and fluency to become a skilled human programmer. The hard cognitive work of reading, modifying, writing, explaining, and testing code is precisely how young people develop a deep understanding of programming and computational thinking.
Learning to code will open up even more opportunities in the age of AI
While there’s no doubt that AI is going to reshape the labour market, the evidence from history suggests that it will increase the reach of programming and computational approaches across the economy and into new domains, creating demand for humans who are skilled programmers. We also argue that coding is no longer just for software engineers, it’s becoming a core skill that enables people to work effectively and think critically in a world shaped by intelligent machines. From healthcare to agriculture, we are already seeing demand for people who can combine programming with domain-specific skills and craft knowledge.
Coding is a literacy that helps young people have agency in a digital world
Alongside the arguments for coding as a route to opening up economic opportunities, we argue that coding and programming gives young people a way to express themselves, to learn, and to make sense of the world.
And perhaps most importantly, that learning to code is about power. Providing young people with a solid grounding in computational literacy, developed through coding, helps ensure that they have agency. Without it, they risk being manipulated by systems they don’t understand. As Rushkoff said: “Program, or be programmed”.
The kids who learn to code will shape the future
Finally, we argue that the power to create with technology is already concentrated in too small and homogenous a group of people. We need to open up the opportunity to learn to code to all young people because it will help us mobilise the full potential of human talent, will lead to more inclusive and effective digital solutions to the big global challenges we face, and will help ensure that everyone can share in the societal and economic benefits of technological progress.
The work we need to do
We end the paper with a call to action for all of us working in education. We need to challenge the false narrative that AI is removing the need for kids to learn to code, and redouble our efforts to ensure that all young people are equipped to take advantage of the opportunities in a world where AI is ubiquitous.
The cartoon image for this blog was created using ChatGPT-4o, which was prompted to produce a “whimsical cartoon that expresses some of the key ideas in the position paper”. It took several iterations.
I am delighted to announce Experience CS, a free, integrated computer science curriculum for elementary and middle school students (8–14 years old) that will be available in June 2025.
Experience CS enables educators to teach computer science through a standards-aligned curriculum that integrates computer science concepts and knowledge into core subjects like maths, science, languages, and the arts.
This cross-curricular and integrated approach is one of the most effective ways to provide younger students with an introduction to computer science and is increasingly important as the impact of digital technology reaches every corner of our lives. We also know that embedding CS in real-world contexts helps make it meaningful and relevant for students, which is essential if we are going to inspire kids from different backgrounds to want to learn more about computer science and technology.
Built by educators, for educators
The team behind Experience CS includes educators with significant experience of teaching CS in elementary and middle school settings and everything we do is being informed by the world’s leading research into effective pedagogy as well as extensive testing and research in classrooms. This won’t stop when we launch. We will continue to develop and improve the curriculum and resources in response to feedback from teachers and students.
One of the most important design principles for Experience CS is that it can be used by any educator. You don’t need a CS qualification or any previous experience in teaching CS classes to deliver engaging and creative learning experiences for your students.
We will provide lesson plans, classroom resources, and an online platform that is designed to be easy and safe to use. We will also provide educators with professional development to help build their confidence, knowledge, and skills. You don’t need to adapt or amend the resources to use them, but you will be able to if you want to. We trust teachers to know what is best for their classrooms.
A creative and safe learning experience
Crucially, Experience CS will be a creative learning experience. We’ve all seen those apps and platforms that purport to teach computer science by having young people direct their favourite pop culture character around a maze. While those types of games can be fun, we think that they fail to convey the creative potential of computer science and leave more students feeling “why bother” rather than being inspired to learn more.
That’s why Experience CS includes self-directed creative projects using the popular programming platform Scratch, with clear instructions and endless opportunities for young people to express themselves creatively.
We know that online safety is the most important consideration for schools, teachers, and parents, which is why we have built a version of Scratch that is safe for schools. That means it won’t have the community and sharing features that are so central to the full Scratch platform. It will come with simple and intuitive classroom management features that enable teachers to create accounts, set assignments, review progress, and provide feedback to students.
Free forever, for everyone
Our promise is that Experience CS will be available for teachers and students anywhere in the world to use for free, for as long as you need it.
Initially, we are developing the curriculum and resources for the US and Canadian education systems and we will be mapping the lessons to national and local standards in both countries. The materials will all be available in English, French, and Spanish. We will also be focusing our professional development and support for schools in the US and Canada, including working with a fantastic network of educational partners.
Building on the legacy of CS First
We are delighted that Experience CS is supported by Google and that we are able to build on the fantastic work that they have done over many years to support educators and students through CS First.
Google has today announced that CS First will no longer be available from June 30, 2025 and that they are recommending that their users should move over to Experience CS for the next school year. That is a huge vote of confidence from a team that really knows what they are talking about. I want to pay tribute to everyone at Google who has worked so hard over the years to support teachers and inspire students through CS First.
We are looking forward to working with all of the CS First community to make sure that you are supported through the transition and set up ready to go for the start of the new school year. You can find out more about the support we will be offering by registering here.
Earlier this week, the UK Government published its AI Opportunities Action Plan, which sets out an ambitious vision to maintain the UK’s position as a global leader in artificial intelligence.
Whether you’re from the UK or not, it’s a good read, setting out the opportunities and challenges facing any country that aspires to lead the world in the development and application of AI technologies.
In terms of skills, the Action Plan highlights the need for the UK to train tens of thousands more AI professionals by 2030 and sets out important goals to expand education pathways into AI, invest in new undergraduate and master’s scholarships, tackle the lack of diversity in the sector, and ensure that the lifelong skills agenda focuses on AI skills.
This is all very important, but the Action Plan fails to mention what I think is one of the most important investments we need to make, which is in schools.
“Most people overestimate what they can achieve in a year and underestimate what they can achieve in ten years.”
While reading the section of the Action Plan that dealt with AI skills, I was reminded of this quote attributed to Bill Gates, which was adapted from Roy Amara’s law of technology. We tend to overestimate what we can achieve in the short term and underestimate what we can achieve in the long term.
In focusing on the immediate AI gold rush, there is a risk that the government overlooks the investments we need to make right now in schools, which will yield huge returns — for individuals, communities, and economies — over the long term. Realising the full potential of a future where AI technologies are ubiquitous requires genuinely long-term thinking, which isn’t always easy for political systems that are designed around short-term results.
But what are those investments? The Action Plan rightly points out that the first step for the government is to accurately assess the size of the skills gap. As part of that work, we need to figure out what needs to change in the school system to build a genuinely diverse and broad pipeline of young people with AI skills. The good news is that we’ve already made a lot of progress.
AI literacy
Over the past three years, the Raspberry Pi Foundation and our colleagues in the Raspberry Pi Computing Education Research Centre at the University of Cambridge have been working to understand and define what AI literacy means. That led us to create a research-informed model for AI literacy that unpacks the concepts and knowledge that constitute a foundational understanding of AI.
In partnership with one of the leading UK-based AI companies, Google DeepMind, we used that model to create Experience AI. This suite of classroom resources, teacher professional development, and hands-on practical activities enables non-specialist teachers to deliver engaging lessons that help young people build that foundational understanding of AI technologies.
We’ve seen huge demand from UK schools already, with thousands of lessons taught in UK schools, and we’re delighted to be working with Parent Zone to support a wider roll out in the UK, along with free teacher professional development.
CEO Philip Colligan and Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the UK launch of Experience AI.
With the generous support of Google.org, we are working with a global network of education partners — from Nigeria to Nepal — to localise and translate these resources, and deliver locally organised teacher professional development. With over 1 million young people reached already, Experience AI can plausibly claim to be the most widely used AI literacy curriculum in the world, and we’re improving it all the time.
All of the materials are available for anyone to use and can be found on the Experience AI website.
There is no AI without CS
With the CEO of GitHub claiming that it won’t be long before 80% of code is written by AI, it’s perhaps not surprising that some people are questioning whether we still need to teach kids how to code.
I’ll have much more to say on this in a future blog post, but the short answer is that computer science and programming is set to become more — not less — important in the age of AI. This is particularly important if we want to tackle the lack of diversity in the tech sector and ensure that young people from all backgrounds have the opportunity to shape the AI-enabled future that they will be living in.
The simple truth is that there is no artificial intelligence without computer science. The rapid advances in AI are likely to increase the range of problems that can be solved by technology, creating demand for more complex software, which in turn will create demand for more programmers with increasingly sophisticated and complex skills.
That’s why we’ve set ourselves the ambition that we will inspire 10 million more young people to learn how to get creative with technology over the next 10 years through Code Club.
Curriculum reform
But we also need to think about what needs to change in the curriculum to ensure that schools are equipping young people with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive in an AI-powered world.
That will mean changes to the computer science curriculum, providing different pathways that reflect young people’s interests and passions, but ensuring that every child leaves school with a qualification in computer science or applied digital skills.
It’s not just computer science courses. We need to modernise mathematics and figure out what a data science curriculum looks like (and where it fits). We also need to recognise that AI skills are just as relevant to biology, geography, and languages as they are to computer science.
To be clear, I am not talking about how AI technologies will save teachers time, transform assessments, or be used by students to write essays. I am talking about the fundamentals of the subjects themselves and how AI technologies are revolutionising the sciences and humanities in practice in the real world.
These are all areas where the Raspberry Pi Foundation is engaged in original research and experimentation. Stay tuned.
Supporting teachers
All of this needs to be underpinned by a commitment to supporting teachers, including through funding and time to engage in meaningful professional development. This is probably the biggest challenge for policy makers at a time when budgets are under so much pressure.
For any nation to plausibly claim that it has an Action Plan to be an AI superpower, it needs to recognise the importance of making the long-term investment in supporting our teachers to develop the skills and confidence to teach students about AI and the role that it will play in their lives.
I’d love to hear what you think and if you want to get involved, please get in touch.
Today we’re unveiling a fresh look and feel for Code Club, along with a new ambition to inspire 10 million more young people to get creative with technology over the next decade.
Code Club is a network of free coding clubs where young people learn how to create with technology. Founded in the UK in 2012, it has grown to be a global movement that has already inspired more than 2 million young people to learn how to build their own apps, games, animations, websites, and so much more.
We know that Code Club works. Independent evaluations have demonstrated that attending a Code Club helps young people develop their programming skills as well as wider life skills like confidence, resilience, and skills in problem-solving and communication. This impact is a result of the positive learning environment created by the teachers and volunteers that run Code Clubs, with young people enjoying the activities and developing skills independently and collaboratively — including young people who sometimes struggle in a formal classroom setting.
Just as important, we know that Code Clubs inspire young people from all backgrounds, including girls and young people from communities that are underrepresented in the technology sector.
What’s changing and why
While we are incredibly proud of the impact that Code Club has already achieved, we want to see many more young people benefiting, and that led us to set the ambitious goal to reach 10 million more young people over the next decade.
To help us figure out how to reach that ambition, we spent a lot of time this year listening to the community as well as engaging with parents, teachers, and young people who aren’t yet involved in Code Club. All of the changes we’ve made have been informed by those conversations and are designed to make it easier for educators and volunteers all over the world to set up and run Code Clubs.
The biggest change is that we are making Code Club a more flexible model that can be adapted to reflect your local context and culture to ensure that it is as meaningful as possible for the young people in your community.
That means you can host a Code Club in a school or a community venue, like a library or makerspace; you can choose the age range and rhythm of meetings that make sense for your setting; and you can tailor the activities that you offer to the interests and skills of the young people you are serving. In order for the movement to be as inclusive as possible, you don’t even need to be called ‘Code Club’ to be an ‘Official Raspberry Pi Foundation Code Club’ and benefit from all the support we offer.
To support this change, we have developed a Code Club Charter that we ask all club leaders and mentors to sign up to. This sets out the principles that are shared by all Code Clubs, along with the commitments that the Raspberry Pi Foundation is making about our support to you.
We have launched a new website that makes it easier for you to find the information you need to set up and run your Code Club, along with an updated and simplified club leader guide. In a few weeks time, we are launching a new online course with guidance on how to run a successful club, and we will be adding to our programme of online community calls, webinars, and training to support a growing community of club leaders and mentors.
One of the most important parts of our support for Code Clubs is the projects that help young people learn how to bring their ideas to life using a wide range of hardware and software. As they are created by experienced educators, based on research, rigorously tested, and translated into dozens of languages, you can have confidence that these projects lead to meaningful and lasting learning outcomes for the young people attending your club. Code Club projects enable young people to learn independently, meaning that mentors don’t need technical skills.
What this means for CoderDojos
Alongside Code Club, the Foundation supports CoderDojo, a network of coding clubs that started life in Cork, Ireland in 2011 and merged with the Raspberry Pi Foundation in 2017.
In order to reduce duplication and make it easier for anyone to set up and run a coding club, we have decided to bring together the resources and support for all club leaders and mentors under one website, which is the new Code Club website.
There is no need for existing CoderDojos to change their name or anything about the way they operate. All registered CoderDojos will be able to manage their club in exactly the same way through the new website, and to access all of the support and resources that we offer to all coding clubs. New clubs will be able to register as CoderDojos.
The ethos, experiences, and lessons from the CoderDojo community have been a vital part of the development of the new Code Club. We have worked hard to make sure that all existing CoderDojos feel that their values are reflected in the Charter, and that the guidance and resources we offer address their circumstances.
CoderDojos will very much remain part of this community, and the Raspberry Pi Foundation will continue to celebrate and learn from the amazing work of CoderDojos all over the world.
Code Club in the age of artificial intelligence
With AI already transforming so many parts of our lives, it’s not surprising that some people are starting to ask whether young people even need to learn to code anymore.
We’ve got a lot to say on this subject — so watch this space — but the short version is that learning how to create with technology has never been more important. The way that humans give instructions to computers is changing, and Code Club provides a way for young people to experiment with new technologies like AI in a safe environment. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be launching new Code Club projects that support young people to learn about AI technologies, including generative AI, and we’ll be providing support for club leaders and mentors on the topic too.
Thank you and get involved
I want to end by saying a huge thank you to everyone who has been part of the Code Club journey so far, and particularly to everyone who has worked so hard on this project over the past year — far too many people to name here, but you know who you are. I also want to thank all of the parents, teachers, mentors, and partners who have provided the feedback and ideas that have shaped these changes.
Code Club and CoderDojo were both founded in the early 2010s by individuals who wanted to give more young people the opportunity to be digital creators, not just consumers. From that first Dojo in Cork, Ireland, and the first Code Clubs in London, UK, we’ve built a global movement that has empowered millions of young people to engage confidently with a world that is being transformed by digital technologies.
It’s never been a better time to get involved with Code Club, so please take a look and get in touch if you need any help or support to get started.
Two years ago, we announced Experience AI, a collaboration between the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Google DeepMind to inspire the next generation of AI leaders.
Today I am excited to announce that we are expanding the programme with the aim of reaching more than 2 million students over the next 3 years, thanks to a generous grant of $10m from Google.org.
Why do kids need to learn about AI
AI technologies are already changing the world and we are told that their potential impact is unprecedented in human history. But just like every other wave of technological innovation, along with all of the opportunities, the AI revolution has the potential to leave people behind, to exacerbate divisions, and to make more problems than it solves.
Part of the answer to this dilemma lies in ensuring that all young people develop a foundational understanding of AI technologies and the role that they can play in their lives.
That’s why the conversation about AI in education is so important. A lot of the focus of that conversation is on how we harness the power of AI technologies to improve teaching and learning. Enabling young people to use AI to learn is important, but it’s not enough.
We need to equip young people with the knowledge, skills, and mindsets to use AI technologies to create the world they want. And that means supporting their teachers, who once again are being asked to teach a subject that they didn’t study.
Experience AI
That’s the work that we’re doing through Experience AI, an ambitious programme to provide teachers with free classroom resources and professional development, enabling them to teach their students about AI technologies and how they are changing the world. All of our resources are grounded in research that defines the concepts that make up AI literacy, they are rooted in real world examples drawing on the work of Google DeepMind, and they involve hands-on, interactive activities.
The Experience AI resources have already been downloaded 100,000 times across 130 countries and we estimate that 750,000 young people have taken part in an Experience AI lesson already.
In November 2023, we announced that we were building a global network of partners that we would work with to localise and translate the Experience AI resources, to ensure that they are culturally relevant, and organise locally delivered teacher professional development. We’ve made a fantastic start working with partners in Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, and Romania; and it’s been brilliant to see the enthusiasm and demand for AI literacy from teachers and students across the globe.
Thanks to an incredibly generous donation of $10m from Google.org – announced at Google.org’s first Impact Summit – we will shortly be welcoming new partners in 17 countries across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, with the aim of reaching more than 2 million students in the next three years.
AI Safety
Alongside the expansion of the global network of Experience AI partners, we are also launching new resources that focus on critical issues of AI safety.
AI and Your Data: Helping young people reflect on the data they are already providing to AI applications in their lives and how the prevalence of AI tools might change the way they protect their data.
Media Literacy in the Age of AI: Highlighting the ways AI tools can be used to perpetuate misinformation and how AI applications can help combat misleading claims.
Using Generative AI Responsibly: Empowering young people to reflect on their responsibilities when using Generative AI and their expectations of developers who release AI tools.
Get involved
In many ways, this moment in the development of AI technologies reminds me of the internet in the 1990s (yes, I am that old). We all knew that it had potential, but no-one could really imagine the full scale of what would follow.
We failed to rise to the educational challenge of that moment and we are still living with the consequences: a dire shortage of talent; a tech sector that doesn’t represent all communities and voices; and young people and communities who are still missing out on economic opportunities and unable to utilise technology to solve the problems that matter to them.
We have an opportunity to do a better job this time. If you’re interested in getting involved, we’d love to hear from you.
On 22 May 2024, we announced that we are intending to list the Foundation’s commercial subsidiary, Raspberry Pi Ltd, on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. This is called an Initial Public Offering (IPO).
The IPO process is — quite rightly — highly regulated, and information about the company and the potential listing can be found on the Investor Portal on Raspberry Pi Ltd’s website. If that’s what you’re looking for, head there.
In this blog post, I want to explain what an IPO of Raspberry Pi Ltd would mean for the Raspberry Pi Foundation.
A tale of two Raspberry Pis
The Raspberry Pi Foundation was founded in 2008 as a UK-based educational charity. Our co-founders wanted to inspire more young people to explore the joys of coding and creating with technology, with the goal of increasing both the number and diversity of kids choosing to study computer science and engineering.
Their idea was to create a low-cost, programmable computer that could rekindle some of the excitement sparked in young minds at the start of the personal computing revolution by platforms like the BBC Micro and ZX Spectrum (incidentally also invented in Cambridge, UK).
Raspberry Pi Ltd was incorporated in 2012 as the commercial subsidiary of the Foundation and is responsible for all aspects of design, production, and distribution of Raspberry Pi computers and associated technologies. It has always been a commercial company, albeit one that was initially wholly owned by a charity.
It’s fairly common for UK charities to have subsidiaries that handle their commercial activities. Guidance from the regulator, the Charity Commission, explains that it helps protect the charity’s assets and ensures that the charity benefits from tax relief on profits that are generated from commercial activities and used to advance the charity’s objectives.
So Raspberry Pi has pretty much always been a tale of two organisations: the Foundation, which is a charity, and Raspberry Pi Ltd, which is a commercial company. While we are legally and practically separate organisations, we are united by a mission to democratise computing, and by a set of values that reflect the community of makers, engineers, and educators that have always been such a central part of the Raspberry Pi story.
Computing for everybody
In the years since the launch of the first Raspberry Pi computer in 2012, Raspberry Pi Ltd has continued to innovate and expand its range of products, evolving into a leading provider of high-performance, single-board computers and associated technologies for industrial and embedded uses, as well as for enthusiasts and educators, in markets worldwide. For more information on the company and all it has achieved, you should take a look at the Investor Portal.
For me, one of the most important things about a Raspberry Pi computer is that kids are learning to code on the same platform that is used by the world’s leading engineers and scientists. It’s not a toy, although it is a lot of fun.
Crucially, the commitment to low-cost computing that was at the heart of Raspberry Pi’s founding ethos remains unchanged and has been enshrined in a legally binding agreement between the Foundation and the company. This means that Raspberry Pi will always produce low-cost, general-purpose computers that can be used for teaching and learning.
Over that same period, the Foundation has innovated and expanded its educational products and learning experiences to the point where we are now widely recognised as one of the world’s leading contributors to the democratisation of computing education.
We create curricula and classroom resources that are used in schools all over the globe, covering everything from basic digital skills to computer science and AI literacy. We provide high-quality professional development for teachers and we build software tools that reduce barriers, save time, and improve learning outcomes. We also support the world’s largest network of free coding clubs and inspire young people to get creative with tech through showcases and challenges. All of this is completely free for teachers and students wherever they are in the world.
We are also advancing the field of computing education through undertaking original research and translating evidence of what works into practice.
Importantly, the Foundation is device- and platform-agnostic. That means that, while Raspberry Pi computers make a huge contribution to our educational mission, you don’t need to use a Raspberry Pi computer to engage with our learning experiences and resources.
The next stage of growth and impact
The proposed IPO is all about securing the next stage of growth and impact for both the Foundation and the commercial company.
To date, Raspberry Pi Ltd has donated nearly $50m from its profits to the Foundation, which we have used to advance our educational mission combined with over $60m in funding from philanthropy, sponsorship, and contracts for educational services.
As the company has continued to grow, it has needed working capital and funding to invest in innovation and product development. Over the past few years that has mainly come from retained profits. Listing Raspberry Pi Ltd on a public market will enable the company to raise additional capital through issuing new shares, which will lead to broader reach, greater impact, and ultimately more value being created for the benefit of all shareholders, including the Foundation.
From the Foundation’s perspective, an IPO provides us with the ability to sell some of our shares to raise money to finance a sustainable expansion of our educational activities. Put simply, instead of receiving a share of the company’s profits each year, we will convert some of our shareholding into an endowment that we will use to fund our educational programmes.
What happens after the IPO?
Assuming we proceed with the IPO, what is now Raspberry Pi Ltd will become a public company that trades its shares on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.
The Foundation will remain a significant shareholder and we will continue to share the Raspberry Pi brand. We will be involved in decision making on the same basis as all other shareholders. Our goal will be to support the company to be as successful as possible in its mission to make computing accessible and affordable for everybody.
The Foundation will use any funds that we raise through the sale of shares at the IPO — or subsequently — to advance our ambitious global strategy to enable every young person to realise their full potential through the power of computing and digital technologies.
Partnership will continue to be at the heart of our strategy and we will work closely with businesses, foundations, and governments to ensure that our work reaches as many teachers and young people as possible. Our ambition is that around 50% of our activities will be funded from the endowment and 50% through partnerships and donations, enabling us to reach many more teachers and students by combining our resources and expertise with those of the many partners who share our mission.
Creating a lasting legacy
Whatever happens with the IPO, Raspberry Pi has already had a huge impact on the world. It’s been an enormous privilege to be part of the journey so far, and I am hugely excited about the potential of this next phase.
I want to pay tribute to all of our co-founders for setting us off on this great adventure, and particularly to Jack Lang, who very sadly passed away earlier this month. Jack made an exceptional and unique contribution to the Raspberry Pi story, and he deserves to go down in history as one of the most significant figures in computing education in the UK. I know he would have shared my excitement about this next chapter in the Raspberry Pi story.
With the pace of technological advances in fields like AI, our mission has never been more vital. We have the potential to positively impact the lives of tens of millions of young people who might otherwise miss out on the opportunity to change the world for the better through technology.
With the rapid advances in digital technologies like artificial intelligence, it’s more important than ever that every young person has the opportunity to learn how computers are being used to change the world and to develop the skills and confidence to get creative with technology.
Crown copyright. Licensed under the Open Government Licence.
There’s no better way to develop those abilities (super powers even) than getting hands-on experience of programming, whether that’s coding an animation, designing a game, creating a website, building a robot buggy, or training an AI classification model. That’s what tens of thousands of young people do every day in Code Clubs all over the world.
Lessons at 10
We were absolutely thrilled to organise a Code Club at Number Ten Downing Street last week, hosted by the UK Prime Minister’s wife Akshata Murty as part of Lessons at 10.
Crown copyright. Licensed under the Open Government Licence.
Lessons at 10 is an initiative to bring school children from all over the UK into Number Ten Downing Street, the official residence of the Prime Minister. Every week different schools visit to attend lessons led by education partners covering all kinds of subjects.
Crown copyright. Licensed under the Open Government Licence.
We ran a Code Club for 20 Year 7 students (ages 11 to 12) from schools in Coventry and Middlesex. The young people had a great time with the Silly eyes and Ghostbusters projects from our collections of Scratch projects. Both stone-cold classics in my opinion, and a great place to start if you’re new to programming.
Crown copyright. Licensed under the Open Government Licence.
You may have spotted in the photos that the young people were programming on Raspberry Pi computers (the incredible Raspberry Pi 400 made in Wales). We also managed to get our hands on some cool new monitors.
Mrs Murty’s father was one of the founders of Infosys, which ranks among the world’s most successful technology companies, founded in India and now operating all over the world. So it is perhaps no surprise that she spoke eloquently to the students about the importance of every young person learning about technology and seeing themselves as digital creators not consumers.
Crown copyright. Licensed under the Open Government Licence.
We were lucky enough to be in one of the rather fancy rooms in Number Ten, featuring a portrait by John Constable of his niece Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer. Mrs Murty reminded us that one of the lessons we learn from Ada Lovelace is that computer programming combines both the logical and artistic aspects of human intelligence. So true.
A global movement
Since Code Club’s launch in April 2012, it has grown to be the world’s largest movement of free computing clubs and has supported over 2 million young people to get creative with technology.
Crown copyright. Licensed under the Open Government Licence.
Code Clubs provide a free, fun, and safe environment for young people from all backgrounds to develop their digital skills. Run by teachers and volunteers, most Code Clubs take place in schools, and there are also lots in libraries and other community venues.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation provides a broad range of projects that young people use to build their confidence and skills with lots of different hardware and software. The ultimate goal is that they are empowered to combine their logical and artistic skills to create something original. Just like Ada Lovelace did all those years ago.
Crown copyright. Licensed under the Open Government Licence.
All of our projects are designed to be self-directed, so young people can learn independently or in groups. That means that you don’t need to be a tech expert to set up or run a Code Club. We provide you with all the support that you need to get started.
I am delighted to announce that the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Google DeepMind are building a global network of educational organisations to bring AI literacy to teachers and students all over the world, starting with Canada, Kenya, and Romania.
Learners around the world will gain AI literacy skills through Experience AI.
Experience AI
We launched Experience AI in September 2022 to help teachers and students learn about AI technologies and how they are changing the world.
Developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Google DeepMind, Experience AI provides everything that teachers need to confidently deliver engaging lessons that will inspire and educate young people about AI and the role that it could play in their lives.
Experience AI is designed to inspire learners about AI through real-world contexts.
We provide lesson plans, classroom resources, worksheets, hands-on activities, and videos that introduce a wide range of AI applications and the underlying technologies that make them work. The materials are designed to be relatable to young people and can be taught by any teacher, whether or not they have a technical background. Alongside the classroom resources, we provide teacher professional development, including an online course that provides an introduction to machine learning and AI.
Part of Experience AI are video interviews with AI developers at Google DeepMind.
The materials are grounded in real-world contexts and emphasise the potential for young people to positively change the world through a mastery of AI technologies.
Since launching the first resources, we have seen significant demand from teachers and students all over the world, with over 200,000 students already learning with Experience AI.
Experience AI network
Building on that initial success and in response to huge demand, we are now building a global network of educational organisations to expand the reach and impact of Experience AI by translating and localising the materials, promoting them to schools, and supporting teacher professional development.
Obum Ekeke OBE, Head of Education Partnerships at Google DeepMind, says:
“We have been blown away by the interest we have seen in Experience AI since its launch and are thrilled to be working with the Raspberry Pi Foundation and local partners to expand the reach of the programme. AI literacy is a critical skill in today’s world, but not every young person currently has access to relevant education and resources. By making AI education more inclusive, we can help young people make more informed decisions about using AI applications in their daily lives, and encourage safe and responsible use of the technology.”
Experience AI helps learners understand how they might use AI to positively change the world.
Today we are announcing the first three organisations that we are working with, each of which is already doing fantastic work to democratise digital skills in their part of the world. All three are already working in partnership with the Raspberry Pi Foundation and we are excited to be deepening and expanding our collaboration to include AI literacy.
Digital Moment, Canada
Digital Moment is a Montreal-based nonprofit focused on empowering young changemakers through digital skills. Founded in 2013, Digital Moment has a track record of supporting teachers and students across Canada to learn about computing, coding, and AI literacy, including through supporting one of the world’s largest networks of Code Clubs.
“We’re excited to be working with the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Google DeepMind to bring Experience AI to teachers across Canada. Since 2018, Digital Moment has been introducing rich training experiences and educational resources to make sure that Canadian teachers have the support to navigate the impacts of AI in education for their students. Through this partnership, we will be able to reach more teachers and with more resources, to keep up with the incredible pace and disruption of AI.”
Indra Kubicek, President, Digital Moment
Tech Kidz Africa, Kenya
Tech Kidz Africa is a Mobasa-based social enterprise that nurtures creativity in young people across Kenya through digital skills including coding, robotics, app and web development, and creative design thinking.
“With the retooling of teachers as a key objective of Tech Kidz Africa, working with Google DeepMind and the Raspberry Pi Foundation will enable us to build the capacity of educators to empower the 21st century learner, enhancing the teaching and learning experience to encourage innovation and prepare the next generation for the future of work.”
Grace Irungu, CEO, Tech Kidz Africa
Asociația Techsoup, Romania
Asociația Techsoup works with teachers and students across Romania and Moldova, training Computer Science, ICT, and primary school teachers to build their competencies around coding and technology. A longstanding partner of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, they foster a vibrant community of CoderDojos and support young people to participate in Coolest Projects and the European Astro Pi Challenge.
“We are enthusiastic about participating in this global partnership to bring high-quality AI education to all students, regardless of their background. Given the current exponential growth of AI tools and instruments in our daily lives, it is crucial to ensure that students and teachers everywhere comprehend and effectively utilise these tools to enhance their human, civic, and professional potential. Experience AI is the best available method for AI education for middle school students. We couldn’t be more thrilled to work with the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Google DeepMind to make it accessible in Romanian for teachers in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, and to assist teachers in fully integrating it into their classes.”
Elena Coman, Director of Development, Asociația Techsoup
Get involved
These are the first of what will become a global network of organisations supporting tens of thousands of teachers to equip millions of students with a foundational understanding of AI technologies through Experience AI. If you want to get involved in inspiring the next generation of AI leaders, we would love to hear from you.
It’s been less than a year since ChatGPT catapulted generative artificial intelligence (AI) into mainstream public consciousness, reigniting the debate about the role that these powerful new technologies will play in all of our futures.
‘Will AI save or destroy humanity?’ might seem like an extreme title for a podcast, particularly if you’ve played with these products and enjoyed some of their obvious limitations. The reality is that we are still at the foothills of what AI technology can achieve (think World Wide Web in the 1990s), and lots of credible people are predicting an astonishing pace of progress over the next few years, promising the radical transformation of almost every aspect of our lives. Comparisons with the Industrial Revolution abound.
At the same time, there are those saying it’s all moving too fast; that regulation isn’t keeping pace with innovation. One of the UK’s leading AI entrepreneurs, Mustafa Suleyman, said recently: “If you don’t start from a position of fear, you probably aren’t paying attention.”
What is AI literacy for young people?
What does all this mean for education, and particularly for computing education? Is there any point trying to teach children about AI when it is all changing so fast? Does anyone need to learn to code anymore? Will teachers be replaced by chatbots? Is assessment as we know it broken?
If we’re going to seriously engage with these questions, we need to understand that we’re talking about three different things:
AI literacy: What it is and how we teach it
Rethinking computer science (and possibly some other subjects)
Enhancing teaching and learning through AI-powered technologies
AI literacy: What it is and how we teach it
For young people to thrive in a world that is being transformed by AI systems, they need to understand these technologies and the role they could play in their lives.
Our SEAME model articulates the concepts, knowledge, and skills that are essential ingredients of any AI literacy curriculum.
The first problem is defining what AI literacy actually means. What are the concepts, knowledge, and skills that it would be useful for a young person to learn?
The reality is that — with a few notable exceptions — the vast majority of AI literacy resources available today are probably doing more harm than good.
In the past couple of years there has been a huge explosion in resources that claim to help young people develop AI literacy. Our research team mapped and categorised over 500 resources, and undertaken a systematic literature review to understand what research has been done on K–12 AI classroom interventions (spoiler: not much).
The reality is that — with a few notable exceptions — the vast majority of AI literacy resources available today are probably doing more harm than good. For example, in an attempt to be accessible and fun, many materials anthropomorphise AI systems, using human terms to describe them and their functions and thereby perpetuating misconceptions about what AI systems are and how they work.
What emerged from this work at the Raspberry Pi Foundation is the SEAME model, which articulates the concepts, knowledge, and skills that are essential ingredients of any AI literacy curriculum. It separates out the social and ethical, application, model, and engine levels of AI systems — all of which are important — and gets specific about age-appropriate learning outcomes for each.
This research has formed the basis of Experience AI (experience-ai.org), a suite of resources, lessons plans, videos, and interactive learning experiences created by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in partnership with Google DeepMind, which is already being used in thousands of classrooms.
If we’re serious about AI literacy for young people, we have to get serious about AI literacy for teachers.
Defining AI literacy and developing resources is part of the challenge, but that doesn’t solve the problem of how we get them into the hands and minds of every young person. This will require policy change. We need governments and education system leaders to grasp that a foundational understanding of AI technologies is essential for creating economic opportunity, ensuring that young people have the mindsets to engage positively with technological change, and avoiding a widening of the digital divide. We’ve messed this up before with digital skills. Let’s not do it again.
Teacher professional development is key to AI literacy for young people.
More than anything, we need to invest in teachers and their professional development. While there are some fantastic computing teachers with computer science qualifications, the reality is that most of the computing lessons taught anywhere on the planet are taught by a non-specialist teacher. That is even more so the case for anything related to AI. If we’re serious about AI literacy for young people, we have to get serious about AI literacy for teachers.
Rethinking computer science
Alongside introducing AI literacy, we also need to take a hard look at computer science. At the very least, we need to make sure that computer science curricula include machine learning models, explaining how they constitute a new paradigm for computing, and give more emphasis to the role that data will play in the future of computing. Adding anything new to an already packed computer science curriculum means tough choices about what to deprioritise to make space.
One of our Experience AI Lessons revolves around the us of AI technology to study the Serengeti ecosystem.
And, while we’re reviewing curricula, what about biology, geography, or any of the other subjects that are just as likely to be revolutionised by big data and AI? As part of Experience AI, we are launching some of the first lessons focusing on ecosystems and AI, which we think should be at the heart of any modern biology curriculum.
Some are saying young people don’t need to learn how to code. It’s an easy political soundbite, but it just doesn’t stand up to serious scrutiny.
There is already a lively debate about the extent to which the new generation of AI technologies will make programming as we know it obsolete. In January, the prestigious ACM journal ran an opinion piece from Matt Welsh, founder of an AI-powered programming start-up, in which he said: “I believe the conventional idea of ‘writing a program’ is headed for extinction, and indeed, for all but very specialised applications, most software, as we know it, will be replaced by AI systems that are trained rather than programmed.”
Writing computer programs is an essential part of learning how to analyse problems in computational terms.
With GitHub (now part of Microsoft) claiming that their pair programming technology, Copilot, is now writing 46 percent of developers’ code, it’s perhaps not surprising that some are saying young people don’t need to learn how to code. It’s an easy political soundbite, but it just doesn’t stand up to serious scrutiny.
Even if AI systems can improve to the point where they generate consistently reliable code, it seems to me that it is just as likely that this will increase the demand for more complex software, leading to greater demand for more programmers. There is historical precedent for this: the invention of abstract programming languages such as Python dramatically simplified the act of humans providing instructions to computers, leading to more complex software and a much greater demand for developers.
Learning to program will help young people understand how the world around them is being transformed by AI systems.
However these AI-powered tools develop, it will still be essential for young people to learn the fundamentals of programming and to get hands-on experience of writing code as part of any credible computer science course. Practical experience of writing computer programs is an essential part of learning how to analyse problems in computational terms; it brings the subject to life; it will help young people understand how the world around them is being transformed by AI systems; and it will ensure that they are able to shape that future, rather than it being something that is done to them.
Enhancing teaching and learning through AI-powered technologies
Technology has already transformed learning. YouTube is probably the most important educational innovation of the past 20 years, democratising both the creation and consumption of learning resources. Khan Academy, meanwhile, integrated video instruction into a learning experience that gamified formative assessment. Our own edtech platform, Ada Computer Science, combines comprehensive instructional materials, a huge bank of questions designed to help learning, and automated marking and feedback to make computer science easier to teach and learn. Brilliant though these are, none of them have even begun to harness the potential of AI systems like large language models (LLMs).
The challenge for all of us working in education is how we ensure that ethics and privacy are at the centre of the development of [AI-powered edtech].
One area where I think we’ll see huge progress is feedback. It’s well-established that good-quality feedback makes a huge difference to learning, but a teacher’s ability to provide feedback is limited by their time. No one is seriously claiming that chatbots will replace teachers, but — if we can get the quality right — LLM applications could provide every child with unlimited, on-demand feedback. AI-powered feedback — not giving students the answers, but coaching, suggesting, and encouraging in the way that great teachers already do — could be transformational.
The challenge for all of us working in education is how we ensure that ethics and privacy are at the centre of the development of AI-powered edtech.
We are already seeing edtech companies racing to bring new products and features to market that leverage LLMs, and my prediction is that the pace of that innovation is going to increase exponentially over the coming years. The challenge for all of us working in education is how we ensure that ethics and privacy are at the centre of the development of these technologies. That’s important for all applications of AI, but especially so in education, where these systems will be unleashed directly on young people. How much data from students will an AI system need to access? Can that data — aggregated from millions of students — be used to train new models? How can we communicate transparently the limitations of the information provided back to students?
Ultimately, we need to think about how parents, teachers, and education systems (the purchasers of edtech products) will be able to make informed choices about what to put in front of students. Standards will have an important role to play here, and I think we should be exploring ideas such as an AI kitemark for edtech products that communicate whether they meet a set of standards around bias, transparency, and privacy.
Realising potential in a brave new world
We may very well be entering an era in which AI systems dramatically enhance the creativity and productivity of humanity as a species. Whether the reality lives up to the hype or not, AI systems are undoubtedly going to be a big part of all of our futures, and we urgently need to figure out what that means for education, and what skills, knowledge, and mindsets young people need to develop in order to realise their full potential in that brave new world.
That’s the work we’re engaged in at the Raspberry Pi Foundation, working in partnership with individuals and organisations from across industry, government, education, and civil society.
If you have ideas and want to get involved in shaping the future of computing education, we’d love to hear from you.
This article will also appear in issue 22 of Hello World magazine, which focuses on teaching and AI. We are publishing this new issue on Monday 23 October. Sign up for a free digital subscription to get the PDF straight to your inbox on the day.
While 14 March is an opportunity for our American friends to celebrate the mathematical constant Pi, we are also very happy to make this day a chance to say a massive thank you to everyone who supports the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s work through their generous donations.
You may know that the Raspberry Pi story started in Cambridge, UK, in 2008 when a group of engineers-cum-entrepreuers set out to improve computing education by inventing a programmable computer for the price of a textbook.
Fast forward 15 years and there are 50 million Raspberry Pi computers in the world, being used to revolutionise education and industry alike. Removing price as a barrier for anyone to own a powerful, general-purpose computer will always be an important part of our mission to democratise access to computing.
What we also know today is that access to low-cost, high-quality hardware is essential, but it’s not enough.
If we want all young people to be able to take advantage of the potential offered by technological innovation, then we also need to support teachers to introduce computing in schools, find ways to inspire young people to learn outside of their formal education, and make sure that everything we do is informed by rigorous research.
That’s the focus of our educational mission at the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and we couldn’t do this work without your support.
What we achieve for young people thanks to your support
We are fortunate that a large and growing community of people, corporations, trusts, and foundations makes very generous donations to support our educational mission. It’s thanks to you that we are able to achieve what we do for young people and educators:
In 2022 alone, over 3.54m people engaged with our free online learning resources for young people, including brand-new pathways of projects for HTML/CSS, Python, and Raspberry Pi Pico.
Supported by us, more than 4500 Code Club and CoderDojos are running in 103 countries, and an additional 2891 clubs that were disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic tell us that they are actively planning to start running sessions for young people again soon.
We engaged over 30,000 young people in challenges such as Astro Pi and Coolest Projects, enabling them to showcase their skills, think about how to solve problems using technology, and connect with like-minded peers.
We have supported tens of thousands of computing teachers through our curriculum, resources, and online training. For example, The Computing Curriculum, which we developed as part of the National Centre for Computing Education in England, is now being used by educators all over the world, with 1.7m global downloads in 2022.
We completed and published the findings of the world’s largest-ever research programme testing how to improve the gender balance in computing. We are now working on integrating the insights from the programme into our own work and making them accessible and actionable for practitioners.
Trust me when I say this is just a small selection of highlights, all of which are made possible by our amazing supporters. Thank you, and I hope that we made you proud.
Get involved today
If you haven’t yet made a donation to our Pi Day campaign, it’s not too late to get involved. Your donation will help inspire the next generation of digital technology creators.
Welcome to 2023. I hope that you had a fantastic 2022 and that you’re looking forward to an even better year ahead. To help get the year off to a great start, I thought it might be fun to share a few of the things that we’ve got planned for 2023.
Whether you’re a teacher, a mentor, or a young person, if it’s computer science, coding, or digital skills that you’re looking for, we’ve got you covered.
Your code in space
Through our collaboration with the European Space Agency, theAstro Pi, young people can write computer programs that are guaranteed to run on the Raspberry Pi computers on the International Space Station (terms and conditions apply).
The Raspberry Pi computers on board the ISS (Image: ESA/NASA)
Astro Pi Mission Zero is open to participants until 17 March 2023 and is a perfect introduction to programming in Python for beginners. It takes about an hour to complete and we provide step-by-step guides for teachers, mentors, and young people.
Make a cool project and share it with the world
Kids all over the world are already working on their entries to Coolest Projects Global 2023, our international online showcase that will see thousands of young people share their brilliant tech creations with the world. Registration opens on 6 February and it’s super simple to get involved. If you’re looking for inspiration, why not explore the judges’ favourite projects from 2022?
While we all love the Coolest Projects online showcase, I’m also looking forward to attending more in-person Coolest Projects events in 2023. The word on the street is that members of the Raspberry Pi team have been spotted scouting venues in Ireland… Watch this space.
Experience AI
I am sure I wasn’t alone in disappearing down a ChatGPT rabbit hole at the end of last year after OpenAI made their latest AI chatbot available for free. The internet exploded with both incredible examples of what the chatbot can do and furious debates about the limitations and ethics of AI systems.
With the rapid advances being made in AI technology, it’s increasingly important that young people are able to understand how AI is affecting their lives now and the role that it can play in their future. This year we’ll be building on our research into the future of AI and data science education and launching Experience AI in partnership with leading AI company DeepMind. The first wave of resources and learning experiences will be available in March.
The big Code Club and CoderDojo meetup
With pandemic restrictions now almost completely unwound, we’ve seen a huge resurgence in Code Clubs and CoderDojos meeting all over the world. To build on this momentum, we are delighted to be welcoming Code Club and CoderDojo mentors and educators to a big Clubs Conference in Churchill College in Cambridge on 24 and 25 March.
This will be the first time we’re holding a community get-together since 2019 and a great opportunity to share learning and make new connections.
Building partnerships in India, Kenya, and South Africa
As part of our global mission to ensure that every young person is able to learn how to create with digital technologies, we have been focused on building partnerships in India, Kenya, and South Africa, and that work will be expanding in 2023.
In India we will significantly scale up our work with established partners Mo School and Pratham Education Foundation, training 2000 more teachers in government schools in Odisha, and running 2200 Code Clubs across four states. We will also be launching new partnerships with community-based organisations in Kenya and South Africa, helping them set up networks of Code Clubs and co-designing learning experiences that help them bring computing education to their communities of young people.
Exploring computing education for 5- to 11-year-olds
Over the past few years, our research seminar series has covered computing education topics from diversity and inclusion, to AI and data science. This year, we’re focusing on current questions and research in primary computing education for 5- to 11-year-olds.
As ever, we’re providing a platform for some of the world’s leading researchers to share their insights, and convening a community of educators, researchers, and policy makers to engage in the discussion. The first seminar takes place today (Tuesday 10 January) and it’s not too late to sign up.
And much, much more…
That’s just a few of the super cool things that we’ve got planned for 2023. I haven’t even mentioned the new online projects we’re developing with our friends at Unity, the fun we’ve got planned with our very own online text editor, or what’s next for our curriculum and professional development offer for computing teachers.
I am delighted to announce a new collaboration between the Raspberry Pi Foundation and a leading AI company, DeepMind, to inspire the next generation of AI leaders.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation’s mission is to enable young people to realise their full potential through the power of computing and digital technologies. Our vision is that every young person — whatever their background — should have the opportunity to learn how to create and solve problems with computers.
With the rapid advances in artificial intelligence — from machine learning and robotics, to computer vision and natural language processing — it’s increasingly important that young people understand how AI is affecting their lives now and the role that it can play in their future.
Experience AI is a new collaboration between the Raspberry Pi Foundation and DeepMind that aims to help young people understand how AI works and how it is changing the world. We want to inspire young people about the careers in AI and help them understand how to access those opportunities, including through their subject choices.
Experience AI
More than anything, we want to make AI relevant and accessible to young people from all backgrounds, and to make sure that we engage young people from backgrounds that are underrepresented in AI careers.
The program has two strands: Inspire and Experiment.
Inspire: To engage and inspire students about AI and its impact on the world, we are developing a set of free learning resources and materials including lesson plans, assembly packs, videos, and webinars, alongside training and support for educators. This will include an introduction to the technologies that enable AI; how AI models are trained; how to frame problems for AI to solve; the societal and ethical implications of AI; and career opportunities. All of this will be designed around real-world and relatable applications of AI, engaging a wide range of diverse interests and useful to teachers from different subjects.
Experiment: Building on the excitement generated through Inspire, we are also designing an AI challenge that will support young people to experiment with AI technologies and explore how these can be used to solve real-world problems. This will provide an opportunity for students to get hands-on with technology and data, along with support for educators.
Our initial focus is learners aged 11 to 14 in the UK. We are working with teachers, students, and DeepMind engineers to ensure that the materials and learning experiences are engaging and accessible to all, and that they reflect the latest AI technologies and their application.
As with all of our work, we want to be research-led and the Raspberry Pi Foundation research team has been working over the past year to understand the latest research on what works in AI education.
Next steps
Development of the Inspire learning materials is underway now, and we will release the whole set of resources early in 2023. Throughout 2023, we will design and pilot the Experiment challenge.
If you want to stay up to date with Experience AI, or if you’d like to be involved in testing the materials, fill in this form to register your interest.
I am delighted to announce the launch of raspberrypi.com — a new website dedicated to Raspberry Pi computers and associated technologies. Head on over to find all about our low-cost, high-performance PCs, add-on boards or HATs, microcontrollers, accessories, and much more.
As well as being able to learn about and purchase the full range of hardware products, on the new website you can download our latest software, find detailed technical documentation, connect with the community on the forums, and read the latest news about Raspberry Pi technologies and how they’re being used to change the world.
What’s changing at raspberrypi.org
This website (raspberrypi.org) will continue to be the home for the Raspberry Pi Foundation and all of our educational initiatives to help young people learn about computers and how to create with digital technologies.
When raspberrypi.org was first launched as a WordPress blog in 2011, we were talking about a low-cost, programmable computer that was being designed for education.
Fast-forward a decade, and we are now speaking about an increasingly broad range of technology and education products and services to industry, hobbyists, educators, researchers, and young people. While there is lots of overlap between those communities and their interests, it is becoming increasingly difficult to address everyone’s needs on one website. So this change is really all about making life easier for you.
We will continue to provide lots of links and connections between the two sites to make sure that you can easily find what you’re looking for. As ever, we’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below.
Connect with us on our new social media channels
Alongside the changes to the websites, we’re also launching new social channels that are focused on the Foundation’s educational initiatives. We look forward to seeing you there.
With computers and digital technologies increasingly shaping all of our lives, it’s more important than ever that every young person, whatever their background or circumstances, has meaningful opportunities to learn about how computers work and how to create with them. That’s our mission at the Raspberry Pi Foundation.
The Raspberry Pi Computing Education Research Centre will work with educators to translate its research into practice and effect positive change in learners’ lives.
Why research matters
Compared to subjects like mathematics, computing is a relatively new field and, while there are enduring principles and concepts, it’s a subject that’s changing all the time as the pace of innovation accelerates. If we’re honest, we just don’t know enough about what works in computing education, and there isn’t nearly enough investment in high-quality research.
We need research to find the best ways of teaching young people how computers work and how to create with them.
Through our research activities we hope to make a contribution to the field of computing education and, as an operating foundation working with tens of thousands of educators and millions of learners every year, we’re uniquely well-placed to translate that research into practice. You can read more about our research work here.
The Raspberry Pi Computing Education Research Centre
The new Research Centre is a joint initiative between the University of Cambridge and the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and builds on our longstanding partnership with the Department of Computer Science and Technology. That partnership goes all the way back to 2008, to the creation of the Raspberry Pi Foundation and the invention of the Raspberry Pi computer. More recently, we have collaborated on Isaac Computer Science, an online platform that is already being used by more than 2500 teachers and 36,000 students of A level Computer Science in England, and that we will shortly expand to cover GCSE content.
Computers and digital technologies shape our lives and society — how do we make sure young people have the skills to use them to solve problems?
Through the Raspberry Pi Computing Education Research Centre, we want to increase understanding of what works in teaching and learning computing, with a particular focus on young people who come from backgrounds that are traditionally underrepresented in the field of computing or who experience educational disadvantage.
The Research Centre will combine expertise from both institutions, undertaking rigorous original research and working directly with teachers and other educators to translate that research into practice and effect positive change in young peoples’ lives.
The scope will be computing education — the teaching and learning of computing, computer science, digital making, and wider digital skills — for school-aged young people in primary and secondary education, colleges, and non-formal settings.
We’re starting with three broad themes:
Computing curricula, pedagogy, and assessment, including teacher professional development and the learning and teaching process
The role of non-formal learning in computing and digital making learning, including self-directed learning and extra-curricular programmes
Understanding and removing the barriers to computing education, including the factors that stand in the way of young people’s engagement and progression in computing education
While we’re based in the UK and expect to run a number of research projects here, we are eager to establish collaborations with universities and researchers in other countries, including the USA and India.
Get involved
We’re really excited about this next chapter in our research work, and doubly excited to be working with the brilliant team at the Department of Computer Science and Technology.
One of the harsh lessons we learned last year was that far too many young people still don’t have a computer for learning at home. There has always been a digital divide; the pandemic has just put it centre-stage. The good news is that the cost of solving this problem is now trivial compared to the cost of allowing it to persist.
Removing price as a barrier to anyone owning a computer was part of the founding mission of Raspberry Pi, which is why we so work hard to make sure that Raspberry Pi computers are as low-cost as possible for everyone, all of the time. We saw an incredible rise in the numbers of people — particularly young people — using Raspberry Pi computers as their main desktop PC during the lockdown, helped by the timely arrival of the fabulous Raspberry Pi 400.
Supporting the most vulnerable young people
As part of our response to the pandemic, the Raspberry Pi Foundation teamed up with UK Youth and a network of grassroots youth and community organisations to get Raspberry Pi desktop kits (with monitors, webcams, and headphones) into the hands of disadvantaged young people across the UK. These were young people who didn’t qualify for the government laptop scheme and who otherwise didn’t have a computer to learn at home.
This wasn’t just about shipping hardware (that’s the easy bit). We trained youth workers and teachers, and we worked closely with families to make sure that they could set up and use the computers. We did a huge amount of work to make sure that the educational platforms and apps they needed worked out of the box, and we provided a customised operating system image with free educational resources and enhanced parental controls.
One of our training calls for the adults who will be supporting young people and families to use the Raspberry Pi kits
The impact has been immediate: young people engaging with learning; parents who reported positive changes in their children’s attitude and behaviour; youth and social workers who have deepened their relationship with families, enabling them to provide better support.
After a successful pilot programme generously funded by the Bloomfield Trust, we launched the Learn at Home fundraising campaign in December, inviting businesses and individuals to donate money to enable us to expand the programme. I am absolutely thrilled that more than 70 organisations and individuals have so far donated an incredible £900,000 and we are on track to deliver our 5000th Raspberry Pi kit in March.
Thanks to Gillas Lane Primary Academy for collecting some wonderful photos and quotes illustrating the impact our computers are having!
While the pandemic shone a bright spotlight onto the digital divide, this isn’t just a problem while we are in lockdown. We’ve known for a long time that having a computer to learn at home can be transformational for any young person.
If you would like to get involved in helping us make sure that every young person has access to a computer to learn at home, we’d love to hear from you. Find out more details on our website, or email us at [email protected].
With so many people all over the world still living in various levels of lockdown, we’ve been working hard to provide free, creative project resources for you to keep young digital makers occupied, learning, and most importantly having fun.
As a dad of two, I know how useful it is to have resources and project ideas for things that we can do together, or that the kids can crack on with independently. As we head into the weekend, I thought I’d share a few ideas for where to get started.
Coding and digital making projects
We offer hundreds of self-guided projects for learning to create with code using tools like Scratch, Python, and more. The projects can be completed online on any computer, they are tailored for different levels of experience, and they include step-by-step guidance that quickly leads to confident, independent young digital makers.
You can code a butterfly garden with one of our ‘Look after yourself’ projects!
We recently launched a new set of beginner Scratch projects on the theme of ‘Look after yourself’, which include activities designed to help young people take care of their own wellbeing while getting creative with code. They are brilliant.
“I am so excited by the [‘Look after yourself’] projects on offer. It couldn’t be more perfect for everything we are navigating right now.”
If Earth is getting you down, then how about creating code that will be sent to the International Space Station?
This is where your kids’ code could run aboard the ISS!
As part of Astro Pi Mission Zero, young people up to age 14 can write a Python program to send their own personal message to the astronauts aboard the ISS. Mission Zero takes about an hour to complete online following a step-by-step guide. It’s a fantastic activity for anyone looking to write Python code for the first time!
Make a cool project
We know that motivation matters. Young digital makers often need a goal to work towards, and that’s where Coolest Projects comes in. It’s the world-leading technology showcase where young digital makers show the world what they’ve created and inspire each other.
Coolest Projects is open to young people up to the age of 18, all over the world, with any level of experience or skills. Young people can register their project ideas now and then create their project so that they can share it with the world on our online gallery.
It’s a brilliant way to motivate your young digital makers to come up with an idea and make it real. If you’re looking for inspiration, then check out the brilliant projects from last year.
Happy digital making!
I hope that these resources and project ideas inspire you and your kids to get creative with technology, whether you’re in lockdown or not. Stay safe and be kind to yourself and each other. We’ll get through this.
As the UK — like many countries around the world — kicks off the new year with another national lockdown, meaning that millions of young people are unable to attend school, I want to share an update on how the Raspberry Pi Foundation is helping young people to learn at home.
Please help us spread the word to teachers, school leaders, governors, parents, and carers. Everything we are offering here is 100% free and the more people know about it, the more young people will benefit.
Supporting teachers and pupils
Schools and teachers all over the world have been doing a heroic job over the past ten months, managing the transition to emergency remote teaching during the first round of lockdowns, supporting the most vulnerable pupils, dealing with uncertainty, changing the way that schools worked to welcome pupils back safely, helping pupils catch up with lost learning, and much, much more.
Both in my role as Chief Executive of the Raspberry Pi Foundation and as chair of governors at a state school here in Cambridge, I’ve seen first-hand the immense pressure that schools and teachers are under. I’ve also seen them display the most amazing resilience, commitment, and innovation. I want to say a huge thank you to all teachers and school staff for everything you’ve done and continue to do to help young people through this crisis.
Here’s some of the resources and tools that we’ve created to help you continue to deliver a world-class computing education:
The Teach Computing Curriculum is a comprehensive set of lesson plans for KS1–4 (learners aged 5–16) as well as homework, progression mapping, and assessment materials.
Working with the fabulous Oak National Academy, we’ve produced 100 hours of video for 300 video lessons based on the Teach Computing Curriculum.
Isaac Computer Science is our online learning platform for advanced computer science (A level, learners aged 16–18) and includes comprehensive, interactive materials and videos. It also allows you to set your learners self-marking questions.
All of these resources are mapped to the English computing curriculum and produced as part of the National Centre for Computing Education. They are available for everyone, anywhere in the world, for free.
Making something fun with code
Parents and carers are the other heroes of remote learning during lockdown. I know from personal experience that juggling work and supporting home learning can be really tough, and we’re all trying to find meaningful, fun alternatives to letting our kids binge YouTube or Netflix (other video platforms and streaming services are available).
That’s why we’ve been working really hard to provide parents and carers with easy, accessible ways for you to help your young digital makers to get creative with technology:
Hundreds of step-by-step guided projects for coding in Scratch, Python, and more. The projects are self-guided, tailored for different levels of experience, and translated into dozens of languages.
Getting computers into the hands of young people who need them
One of the harsh lessons we learned last year was that far too many young people don’t have a computer for learning at home. There has always been a digital divide; the pandemic has just put it centre-stage. The good news is that the cost of solving this problem is now trivial compared to the cost of allowing it to persist.
That’s why the Raspberry Pi Foundation has teamed up with UK Youth and a network of grassroots youth and community organisations to get computers into the hands of disadvantaged young people across the UK.
For under £200 we can provide a vulnerable child with everything they need to learn at home, including a Raspberry Pi desktop computer, a monitor, a webcam, free educational software, and ongoing support from a local youth worker and the Foundation team. So far, we have managed to get 2000 Raspberry Pi computers into the hands of the most vulnerable young people in the UK. A drop in the ocean compared to the size of the problem, but a huge impact for every single young person and family.
This has only been possible thanks to the generous support of individuals, foundations, and businesses that have donated to support our work. If you’d like to get involved too, you can find out more here.
I am delighted to share the news that we have appointed a new Chair and Trustees of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Between them, they bring an enormous range of experience and expertise to what is already a fantastic Board of Trustees, and I am really looking forward to working with them.
John Lazar
Amali de Alwis
Charles Leadbeater
Dan Labbad
New Chair of the Board of Trustees: John Lazar
John Lazar has been appointed as the new Chair of the Board of Trustees. John is a software engineer and business leader who is focused on combining technology and entrepreneurship to generate lasting positive impact.
Formerly the Chairman and CEO of Metaswitch Networks, John is now an angel investor, startup mentor, non-executive chairman and board director, including serving as the Chair of What3Words. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and played an active role in developing the programme of study for England’s school Computer Science curriculum. John has also spent many years working on tech-related non-profit initiatives in Africa and co-founded Enza Capital, which invests in early-stage African technology companies that solve pressing problems.
John takes over the Chair from David Cleevely, who has reached the end of his two three-year terms as Trustee and Chair of the Foundation. David has made a huge contribution to the Foundation over that time, and we are delighted that he will continue to be involved in our work as one of the founding members of the Supporters Club.
New Trustees: Amali de Alwis, Charles Leadbeater, Dan Labbad
Alongside John, we are welcoming three new Trustees to the Board of Trustees:
Amali de Alwis is the UK Managing Director of Microsoft for Startups, and is the former CEO of Code First: Girls. She is also a Board member at Ada National College for Digital Skills, sits on the Diversity & Inclusion Board at the Institute of Coding, is an Advisory Board member at the Founders Academy, and was a founding member at Tech Talent Charter.
Charles Leadbeater is an independent author, a social entrepreneur, and a leading authority on innovation and creativity. He has advised companies, cities, and governments around the world on innovation strategy and has researched and written extensively on innovation in education. Charles is also a Trustee of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
Dan Labbad is Chief Executive and Executive Member of the Board of The Crown Estate. He was previously at Lendlease, where he was Chief Executive Officer of Europe from 2009. Dan is also a Director of The Hornery Institute and Ark Schools.
New Member: Suranga Chandratillake
I am also delighted to announce that we have appointed Suranga Chandratillake as a Member of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Suranga is a technologist, entrepreneur, and investor.
He founded the intelligent search company blinkx and is now a General Partner at Balderton Capital. Suranga is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and he serves on the UK Government’s Council for Science and Technology.
What is a Board of Trustees anyway?
As a charity, the Raspberry Pi Foundation is governed by a Board of Trustees that is ultimately responsible for what we do and how we are run. It is the Trustees’ job to make sure that we are focused on our mission, which for us means helping more people learn about computing, computer science, and related subjects. The Trustees also have all the usual responsibilities of company directors, including making sure that we use our resources effectively. As Chief Executive, I am accountable to the Board of Trustees.
We’ve always been fortunate to attract the most amazing people to serve as Trustees and, as volunteers, they are incredibly generous with their time, sharing their expertise and experience on a wide range of issues. They are an important part of the team. Trustees serve for up to two terms of three years so that we always have fresh views and experience to draw on.
How do you appoint Trustees?
Appointments to the Board of Trustees follow open recruitment and selection processes that are overseen by the Foundation’s Nominations Committee, supported by independent external advisers. Our aim is to appoint Trustees who bring different backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experience, as well as a range of skills. As with all appointments, we consider diversity at every aspect of the recruitment and selection processes.
Formally, Trustees are elected by the Foundation’s Members at our Annual General Meeting. This year’s AGM took place last week on Zoom. Members are also volunteers, and they play an important role in holding the Board of Trustees to account, helping to shape our strategy, and acting as advocates for our mission.
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