Using Forward Education kits

Forward Education makes hands-on kits that plug into the micro:bit — sensors, motors, lights, pumps, and more. MicroChat knows how to program them.

The kits MicroChat knows

• Climate Action Kit – dial, touch, line, moisture, solar, sonar, pump, servos, driving motors, LED ring.
• Coding for Good Kit – everything in the Climate Action Kit plus colour, motion (PIR), LCD screen, and temperature probe.
• Smart Solar Energy Kit – solar panel with energy and servo modules.
• Smart Hydroponics Kit – float, pH, pump, and lights modules.
• Smart Soldering Kit – the Smart Solder module.
• CHARGE for micro:bit – a wearable rechargeable battery.

Turning on kit support

In Code, look under the chat box for the Forward Education extension checkbox. Tick it before you send your request. This tells MicroChat it may use the kit blocks.

Then ask for what you want:

Read the moisture sensor and turn on the pump when the soil is dry

MicroChat writes the program using the right kit blocks and tells you which extension it used.

Why is there a checkbox?

Kit programs are bigger and take a little longer to build. Leaving the box unticked keeps plain micro:bit programs fast. Tick it only when you're using a kit.

Good to know

• Kit support in MicroChat is in beta. It works well, but you may occasionally get a block that needs a tweak — just tell MicroChat what happened.
• Only the kits listed above are supported. If you ask for other hardware, MicroChat will tell you it can't help with that yet.
• In Arcade, there is no kit checkbox. Arcade games don't use the kit modules.
• Reopening an old kit program? Tick the box again before asking for changes.

Finding lessons for the kits

Forward Education's learning platform has free, ready-to-teach lessons for every kit. Click Resources in the left menu, or ask the Dashboard helper — it knows the lesson library.