🚨 Rescue Steel · Facilitator’s Guide
Save the Day with Smart Electronics
Two required micro:bit wiring lessons, then one extension lesson your class picks. Everything you need to run it.
Run sheet
Each lesson block opens with its own Facilitator’s Guide page — that page holds the full written guide plus the presentation, worksheets and printable checkpoint for teaching the lesson live instead of sending students into the Learn module. This sheet is the order and the timing; the detail is one click down.
| Module item | What happens | ~Time |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced micro:bit Circuits — Lessons 1 and 2 run in order, then the class picks ONE extension lesson | ||
| Lesson 1: Wiring LEDs with micro:bit Expansion Board — details, printables and the full written guide: the Lesson 1 guide page that opens this block | ||
| Learn: Lesson 1 | The Learn module, hosted in Articulate RISE. Launches out of Canvas into the tool. 0 pts. | 20–30 min |
| Do: Lesson 1 | First wiring day. Students seat the micro:bit in the expansion board, wire the LED modules, then program a working traffic light with realistic timing. Worksheet linked inside the assignment. 5 pts. | 1–2 periods |
| Checkpoint: Lesson 1 | Canvas quiz, 4 questions, unlimited retakes, highest score kept. 4 pts. | ~10 min |
| Lesson 2: Wiring and Programming Inputs — details and printables: the Lesson 2 guide page | ||
| Learn: Lesson 2 | The Learn module, hosted in Articulate RISE. Launches out of Canvas into the tool. 0 pts. | 20–30 min |
| Do: Lesson 2 | Wire the button module, prove the board is reading it, then build a basketball possession arrow that flips on a press. The debounce problem is the lesson. 5 pts. | 1 period |
| Checkpoint: Lesson 2 | Canvas quiz, 3 questions, unlimited retakes. 3 pts. | ~10 min |
| 🔀 Extension: pick ONE of Lessons 3–4. This is a fork, not a sequence. Decide before Lesson 2 ends which one your class runs — the two Do assignments both tell students they do one or the other, and the kit you have on hand usually decides it for you. | ||
| Lesson 3: Servo Motors — extension option A. Details and printables: the Lesson 3 guide page | ||
| Learn: Lesson 3 | The Learn module, hosted in Articulate RISE. Launches out of Canvas into the tool. 0 pts. | 20–30 min |
| Do: Lesson 3 | Wire and test a servo, then let the micro:bit light sensor drive it — a sunshade for VilBot that opens and closes on its own. 5 pts. | 1–2 periods |
| Checkpoint: Lesson 3 | Canvas quiz, 4 questions, unlimited retakes. 4 pts. | ~10 min |
| Lesson 4: Advanced Inputs and Outputs — extension option B. Details and printables: the Lesson 4 guide page | ||
| Learn: Lesson 4 | The Learn module, hosted in Articulate RISE. Launches out of Canvas into the tool. 0 pts. | 20–30 min |
| Do: Lesson 4 | Buzzer, neopixel and touch module tested one at a time, then an open-ended build: a prototype educational toy for Lil Vil. The most open-ended work in the module. 100 pts. | 1–2 periods |
| Checkpoint: Lesson 4 | Canvas quiz, 3 questions, unlimited retakes. 3 pts. | ~10 min |
🔀 Pick the extension before you start Lesson 3
Lessons 3 and 4 are alternatives. Servo motors (Lesson 3) needs servos on hand; the toy prototype (Lesson 4) needs buzzers, neopixels and touch modules and takes the loosest rein. Whichever you choose, the other block stays in the module unpublished — leave it that way rather than deleting it, so next year’s teacher still has the choice. The two do not weigh the same in the gradebook either: Lesson 4’s Do is the module’s 100-point Major grade, while Lesson 3’s Do is a 5-point Minor.
Materials + prep
- Know which expansion kit you have before day one. Every Do assignment links two worksheets — one for the standard expansion board and one for the Kitronik kit. They are not interchangeable; the pin numbers differ. Open the pair for Lesson 1 and decide which one your class uses.
- micro:bits, expansion boards and jumper wires counted against your roster before Lesson 1. Kit counts decide whether students work solo or in pairs, and that grouping should hold across all the lessons so partners are not relearning the board each time.
- Power for every board: battery packs with fresh batteries, or USB cables long enough to reach. Students are told to cut power before rewiring, which only works if power is easy to cut.
- Modules for the lessons you actually run: LED modules (Lesson 1), a button module (Lesson 2), servos (Lesson 3) or buzzer, neopixel and touch modules (Lesson 4).
- Printables live on the lesson guide pages — presentation, worksheet, Kitronik worksheet and printable checkpoint for each lesson, if you would rather teach it live.
- Background reading before you teach the module: the program’s facilitator guide for Save the Day with Smart Electronics (Google Doc).
Watch-fors
- A blank Learn page is not a broken Learn page. All four Learn items are external tool launches into Articulate RISE. Their Canvas description is empty on purpose — the lesson lives inside the launch. Click through one yourself before class, allow pop-ups on student devices, and do not spend an evening trying to fill a page that is meant to be empty.
- Lesson 1’s student worksheet link opens the teacher guide. Known issue, flagged and not silently repointed: the link labelled Worksheet: Lesson 1 in both the Do assignment and the Lesson 1 guide page resolves to the same Drive file as the facilitator guide above it. No separate Lesson 1 student worksheet exists anywhere in the course. The Kitronik worksheet is the real Lesson 1 student worksheet — send students to that one, or print it.
- Lesson 4 has no printable checkpoint. Lessons 1, 2 and 3 each have one on their guide page; Lesson 4 does not, because none was produced. The Canvas quiz is the checkpoint for that lesson. Nothing is missing from your copy.
- Wiring, not code, is what stalls Lesson 1. Budget the front of the period for seating boards and checking connections, and hold the class until every table has something that lights. When a light never comes on, the pin number in the code and the pin on the board disagree far more often than the wire is bad.
Grading — 26 or 120 points, depending on your extension
✓ Do: Lesson 4 is a Major grade, at 100 points. The other three Do assignments are Minor grades, 5 points each. All four are graded on the finished worksheet, uploaded as a file or as a share link.
✓ Checkpoints are 4, 3, 4 and 3 points for Lessons 1, 2, 3 and 4, all Minor grades — one point per question, unlimited retakes, highest score kept.
✓ The four Learn items are 0 points. Completion happens inside RISE, so track it there or in the Do work that follows.
✓ Lessons 1 and 2 come to 17 points, all Minor. Add Lesson 3 and the total is 26, still all Minor. Add Lesson 4 instead and it is 120, because that Do is the Major grade. Nobody runs both, so 129 is not a real total.
Every item and the module are unpublished. Publish as you go.