Technical Career Exploration and Hands-on Physical Computing Activities with Young Learners

To meet the demand for the future technical workforce it is crucial to spark interest and cultivate exploration of potential careers among young learners. One method for doing this is through hands-on physical computing activities in which participants use microcontrollers to build circuits with sensors, indicators, and actuators. To explore the effectiveness of these activities, we conducted workshops with school-aged and university students introducing technical career exploration, followed by hands-on programming and engineering activities, involving micro:bit microcontrollers, servos, craft and scrap materials. In just 2.5-hours, participants explored their skills and career interests and then successfully designed, developed, programmed and presented their automated, robotic creations, using their new skills.