Gladiators and BBC micro:bit are joining forces in a new competition to design a fitness gadget

Contenders ready? Children aged 7 to 11 in British primary schools must prepare for a new challenge: designing a gadget to improve sports performance.

BBC Children’s and Education and the Micro:bit Educational Foundation have teamed up with hit TV show Gladiators to call on primary schools to take part in an exciting new design competition.

The Gladiators throw down the gauntlet for kids to design an innovative gadget that uses the pocket-sized micro:bit computer to boost their performance. It’s all about design and is the perfect way to get started with the BBC micro:bit. All it takes is the desire to explore and create.

From Tuesday, October 15 at 11 a.m., primary schools have until Friday, December 6, 2024 at noon to submit their entries.

The winning school will receive a visit from a Gladiator, a £500 voucher for computer equipment and their design will be turned into a prototype gadget. They will also enjoy a special Gladiator themed coding day with a micro:bit expert from the BBC. The top 50 schools will also win micro:bits* for classrooms.

Phantom says: “We want to hear what exciting ideas children come up with to test our fitness. You don’t need to know anything about coding, just use your imagination and set us a challenge to help us become faster, stronger and even more unstoppable!”

Dynamite says: “Technology can really help improve performance by measuring many different aspects including speed, strength and balance. So be creative and think of fun ways to use the BBC micro:bit to improve our sporting performance.”

Helen Foulkes, the BBC’s head of education, said: “We’re calling on teachers in primary schools across the country to harness the power of the Gladiators and ignite children’s imaginations. The BBC micro:bit is such a versatile device, and we hope students will come up with some really creative design ideas to test the mighty Gladiators.”

Gareth Stockdale, CEO of the Micro:bit Educational Foundation, said: “We are so excited to be putting the power of both the BBC micro:bit and Gladiators into the hands of students. Design Thinking is a valuable process to teach children. Using it in this competition is a fun way to get all students involved. Nearly 700,000 micro:bits have been distributed to UK primary schools, funded by Nominet as part of the BBC micro:bit – the next gen campaign. With the features on the micro:bit and the incredible skills of Dynamite and Phantom, the creative possibilities are endless – we can’t wait to see what British schools come up with.”

The competition starts with an exclusive live lesson with Phantom and Dynamite, which can be viewed from Tuesday, October 15 at 11 a.m. on the BBC Teach website.

The duo compete in a fun design and technology lesson for primary schools, encouraging children across the UK to participate in a range of curriculum-related design and technology activities in real time. For schools inspired by the Live Lesson and ready to take the next step, BBC Teach offers free and easy-to-use lesson plans to bring Gladiators fun into the classroom and get children involved in the competition.

Each school can submit a maximum of three entries. The competition is open to residents of Great Britain aged between 7 and 11 years old. The participation form, general terms and conditions and privacy statement can be found at bbc.co.uk/teach/microbit

The competition closes on Friday 6 December 2024 at 12:00 and the winner will be announced on Monday 10 March 2025.

Gladiators is a Hungry Bear and MGM Alternative UK, a division of Amazon MGM Studios, production for BBC One and BBC iPlayer and was commissioned by Kalpna Patel-Knight, BBC Head of Entertainment Commissioning. The executive producers are Dan Baldwin and Lou Brown for Hungry Bear, and Dom Bird and Barry Poznick for MGM Alternative UK, a division of Amazon MGM Studios. The editor-in-chief of the BBC is Clodagh O’Donoghue.

The original American Gladiators series was created by Johnny C. Ferraro and Dan Carr and developed by Johnny C. Ferraro.

* In addition to the winning school, a further three top entries will each receive a £500 voucher for computing equipment, a set of micro:bits for the classroom and a Gladiator-themed coding day with a micro:bit expert from the BBC.

In the first round of judging, the 50 best entries will be selected by professional judges from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE). These entries will each receive a classroom set of micro:bits. In the second round of judging, a panel of technology and experts, including IMechE and leaders from the Micro:bit Educational Foundation and Nominet, along with a BBC chairman, will assess the top 50 entries to choose the winner and three runners-up.

About the BBC micro:bit – the next generation campaign

In 2023, the BBC launched micro:bit – the next generation campaign to provide free micro:bits to every primary school in the UK. A total of nearly 700,000 micro:bits have been distributed, as well as brand new learning tools to accelerate computational thinking, programming, digital creativity and machine learning knowledge among primary school students. The project is supported by Nominet, operators of the .UK domain, whose funding has enabled the micro:bits to be made available free of charge to UK primary schools.

About Micro:bit Educational Foundation

The Micro:bit Educational Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in Great Britain in 2016 with the aim of inspiring every child to create their best digital future.

We do this by:

developing hardware and software that inspires young people to become enthusiastic about technology and the opportunities it offers them
creating free, easy-to-use learning resources to support teachers in delivering engaging and creative lessons
working with like-minded partners to deliver high-impact educational programs around the world.

Launched as part of the BBC’s groundbreaking Make It Digital initiative in 2014, the BBC micro:bit is a pocket-sized computer that offers children a fun way to learn digital creativity and programming skills, helping them shape their best digital future give. Following its initial launch, the Micro:bit Educational Foundation was established in 2016 as a non-profit organization, which continues to develop, promote and expand the reach of the micro:bit and its resources around the world. 9.5 million devices have been distributed worldwide and an estimated 52 million young people from more than 60 countries have benefited from learning with micro:bit to date.