Welcome to the factory!
A Very Useful Monster factory is where you will learn how to bring your own Very Useful Monster into this world. This web site will to guide you through the steps you need to learn how to bring your code to life in a Very Useful Monster that you can carry with you and interact with.
What is a Very Useful Monster?
Every Very Useful Monster is unique because it is a monster that you design based on what you want it to do. You will use programming, robotics and your imagination to make your monster. It can be as useful as you want it to be… some more advanced Very Useful Monsters help patients get through chemotherapy, others are used for Alzheimers care.
The more you learn about coding, digital design and robotics, the more useful your monster can become.
Get Started!
Let’s start by learning some basics of computer programming to bring our monster to life. Grab your bit:booster with micro:bit, add some legs and go to the first lesson!
Overview
The Very Useful Monster curriculum is a collection of challenges designed for self directed exploration of core coding concepts. Each challenge addresses a coding concept as structured around the general theme of designing a pet monster. Each pet monster will be different and everyone will have their own journey.
After learning how to write and upload code to the micro:bit through to give the monster a beating heart, everyone’s exploration will diverge as they build their own monster.
Assessment, if required or desired, is possible for someone with no coding experience: Can the student explain what they wanted their robot to do and does it do it?