At Maker Faire Bay Area 2014, Clive Beale, director of educational development at The Raspberry Pi Foundation, spoke to Make: about its roots as an educational platform and how their audience at Maker Faire has evolved.
The team has recently launched a new section of their website to support teachers, learners, and makers with free resources. “We really want to support any teachers, any educators, who want to pick up a Raspberry Pi and use it to teach young people programming,” said Clive. “We are here to support that; that’s really our reason for being here.”
Raspberry Pi has come a long way since last year. “What we found last year is that people were coming up to us at events and saying ‘What’s a Raspberry Pi?’ and ‘I don’t understand why I should use it,’” said Clive. “What we’re finding this year is that people are coming up—teachers, educators, and the general public—and saying ‘I’ve got a Raspberry Pi, I’ve done a few bits and bobs with it. but what can I do next? How can I use this in a positive way to get kids learning and to get them creating and to get them making?’”
Judging by the crowds around the Raspberry Pi booth in Maker Faire’s Expo Hall, the interest in Raspberry Pi is insatiable.
“There’s a really nice mix of people,” said Clive about the Maker Faire experience. “You’ve got families, you’ve got parents with kids asking questions, you’ve got makers, you’ve got hobbyists, you’ve got professionals. You’ve got this really interesting cross-section of people to talk to and they’re all genuinely interested in being here and making stuff. It’s fantastic.”
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