Micro:bit and Scratch

[Judith Seidel]

HI Friends,

Prior ot Covid, my Third and Fourth students engaged in two projects involving Micro:bit and Scratch. In one we reimagined toys so that when they are shaken or moved they activate something in the world of Scratch. This project was inspired by work at the Exploratoreum's Tinkering Studio. In the other project we used similar technology to engineer magic wands.

Back in 2019, the Micro:bit chip connected to Scratch via bluetooth when Scratch Link was running. To make the Micro:bit compatible with Scratch, I would drag a hex file to the chip that I found on the Scratch website.

Alas, connecting the Micro:bit to Scratch via Bluetooth has now become an elusive goal. I have reached out to both the Scratch team and to tech support at Micro:bit but so far no new success.

I have installed the latest version of Scratch Link and am running it when I try to connect. I have downloaded the hex file and dragged it to my Micro:bit. I am running Monterrey 12.01 on my Mac. I have tried connecting with both Micro:bits I connected to before and Micro:bits that were straight out of the box with a new hex file that I downloaded. All my Micro:bits were purchased at least three years ago and say copyright 2015 on them.

Has anyone been successfully connecting Micro:bit to Scratch lately? We have exciting projects planned and would love to be able to do this again.

If necessary I will reinvent the projects using MakeCode. There are however several advantages to keeping these projects in Scratch.

Thanks in advance for your help.

All the best,

Judith Seidel

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Judith Seidel// Lower School Technology Integrator and Computer Science Faculty

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[michaelt]

I just checked my micro:bits with Scratch and they work. To be sure about versions, I downloaded and installed fresh copies of both Scratch Link and the Scratch hex file. I also tested both the old micro:bit and the new micro:bit V2. Both are fine. I had Scratch running in Chrome and then Firefox. 

However, I'm on a Windows 10 PC, not a Mac. I know that doesn't solve the problem for you, but at least it narrows down where the issue is.

I hope this helps.

-Michael 

[stephen Lewis]

We have a unique solution to the Scratch issue, in which various hurdles like ScratchLink and other issues have restricted use of sensors in Scratch, Javascript and other languages.

Take a look at www.funkey.organd you'll see a lot of short video examples of how to use sensors (and outputs like servos and leds) directly with Scratch, Javscript, etc. WITHOUT having any installs at all.  Just plug and play.  You can direct the output of a variety of sensors to Scratch to make inventions, science experiments, game controllers, etc.:  IR proximity sensor, light sensor, potentiometer, tilt sensor, heartbeat sensor, moisture sensor, and pretty much any analog or digital sensor.  There's also a stand alone mode using a battery pack that connects sensors directly to a servo, for animatronics, etc.  In addition you get a 12-note "banana piana" mode as well.  

We have a lot of Scratch and Javascript code to go with the video examples.  

I can look into whether it can be used with Microbit in addition to the FunKey board, but there are probably some built-in hurdles in the Mbit.

Steve

On Thursday, January 27, 2022 at 4:35:45 PM UTC-5 jseidel wrote:

[Judith Seidel]

Thanks Michael and Yumi for your helpful replies!

As it turns out, upgrading Scratch Link from 1.36 to 2.367 on the school laptops that are on Big Sur did the trick. I had updated Scratch Link on my own school laptop that runs Monterey and I couldn't connect them. That seems to be an ongoing issue but won't get in the way of our doing the projects.

I am very happy that the Micro:bits will work with the cart laptops. We won't upgrade them to Monterey before we do some more investigating to get it to work with the newer operating system.

Have a wonderful weekend!

All the best,

Judith

[Joanne Ciuccio]

This is so helpful and timely for a coding class that I plan to run over Spring Break, thank you so much! 

Any recent experiences and thoughts about using Scratch to program Makey Makey? Thanks in advance...

Best,

Joanne

--

Joanne C. Ciuccio

Graphic Arts Teacher, Grades 4 - 12

Saddle River Day School

147 Chestnut Ridge Road

Saddle River, NJ 07458 

(201) 327-4050

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