Micro:bit Inventor Lab
Level 3 — Advanced
Design It. Measure It. Connect It. Prove It.
Grades 3–6 | 12 Inventor Missions
About the course
The step after Level 2. Inventors build with arrays and parameterised functions, keep programs responsive with states and elapsed time, calibrate sensors with hysteresis, log and interpret real data, and design a radio protocol with acknowledgements and retries — then prove an original invention with repeatable tests.
Every mission has the real Microsoft MakeCode editor and simulator, private autosave, and a blank two-page lab sheet. The certificate needs all 12 missions, six teacher-approved evidence locks and a teacher rubric score.
What you need
- Grades 3–6 · about 60–90 minutes per mission
- Level 2 or equivalent experience
- A BBC micro:bit (V1 or V2) and USB cable; two boards for the radio missions (8–10, 12)
- The free MakeCode editor at makecode.microbit.org
- Low-risk models only: no mains wiring or safety-critical control
🔒 Planned for Academy membership
The 12 missions
Mission 1 · Advanced
Pattern Vault
I can store bounded coordinate routes in arrays and replay different patterns with the same algorithm.
Open mission →Mission 2 · Advanced
One Tool, Many Signals
I can build a parameterised drawing function, validate its inputs and reuse it with different arguments.
Open mission →Mission 3 · Advanced
Mission Control, No Waiting
I can build a responsive ten-second controller using explicit states and elapsed-time scheduling.
Open mission →Mission 4 · Advanced
Sensor Passport
I can calibrate a light sensor from repeated measurements and explain what its readings can and cannot mean.
Open mission →Mission 5 · Advanced+
The Unflappable Alarm
I can use hysteresis to stabilise a model alarm and prove its behaviour with a prepared boundary sequence.
Open mission →Mission 6 · Advanced+
Black-Box Recorder
I can schedule exactly twenty sensor samples, store paired timestamps and values in bounded arrays, and export them over USB.
Open mission →Mission 7 · Advanced+
Evidence Detective
I can compare two measured light conditions and support a careful claim with summaries, a graph and a limitation.
Open mission →Mission 8 · Advanced+
Radio With a Rulebook
I can build a compact radio protocol that validates packets and suppresses repeated data from each sender.
Open mission →Mission 9 · Advanced+
Delivery Detectives
I can manage one outstanding radio command with matching acknowledgments, elapsed-time timeouts and finite retries.
Open mission →Mission 10 · Advanced+
Connected Caretaker
I can integrate trustworthy sensing, responsive local states, bounded data and reliable radio in a low-risk caretaker model.
Open mission →Mission 11 · Advanced+
Failure-Finding Studio
I can turn user criteria and three repeatable failures into a controlled, evidence-based revision.
Open mission →Mission 12 · Capstone
Inventor's Reliability Expo
I can independently design a low-risk invention and defend its reliability through six teacher-reviewed evidence locks.
Open mission →