This week, we kicked off with Microcredential 2 and 3 focusing on hands-on Raspberry Pi segment
We started off with the fundamentals – configuring the Raspberry Pi environment. Students explored the process of setting up the Raspberry Pi 4, learning how to boot the system, OS installation, update packages, and enable interfaces like SSH and I2C. This step was crucial to ensure their boards were fully prepared for the upcoming hardware experiments.
MC 2 – Chapter 1 -5 Raspberry Pi Installation and Setting Up
Alongside this, we discussed key differences between Raspberry Pi 4 (a microprocessor-based platform) and Raspberry Pi Pico (a microcontroller-based platform). This opened up meaningful discussions on the architecture, applications, and performance of both systems.
MC 3 – Chapter 1 & 2: Hardware Warm-Up Activities
The class then moved into Microcredential 3, tackling Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, which introduced basic hardware control using Python and MicroPython. Over these two chapters, students completed four practical activities:
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Lighting up an LED (Act 1) – their very first GPIO output!
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LED Blinking (Act 2) – introducing timing and control loops.
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Reading Digital Input with Push Button (Act 3) – detecting user input via GPIO.
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Push Button to Control LED (Act 4) – combining input and output for basic interaction.
These warm-up activities weren’t just about turning lights on and off. They were designed to help students:
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Compare Python 3 (used on Pi 4) vs MicroPython (used on Pico).
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Understand how different hardware platforms influence programming paradigms.
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Build a mental model of how microprocessors and microcontrollers handle digital I/O.
Learning Through Doing
At UMPSA STEM Lab, we strongly believe in embodied learning – and this week was a great reflection of that. Students didn’t just hear about hardware or programming; they wired it, coded it, debugged it, and saw the immediate outcome of their logic and effort. It was beautiful to see LEDs blinking and eyes lighting up in sync.
Next week, we’ll continue building on this foundation by introducing OLED displays and sensor integration — more advanced interactions await!
Btw sharing with you the production of Rasp Pi in their facilities in the UK:-
