SparkFun gator:boards

Developed with students and educators in mind, SparkFun’s line of gator:boards are designed to easily expand the micro:bit’s capabilities through alligator clip connections.

While the micro:bit has a variety of great features built into the board, it can be difficult to use every available pin without soldering. Which is how SparkFun’s gator:board line was born.

The initial board, the gator:bit, was designed to breakout every pin on the micro:bit in an alligator clip-friendly way, thus expanding micro:bit’s capabilities without requiring soldering. From there, we have created a line of additional accessory boards including various sensors, switches, LEDs and more.

While these boards were designed with the micro:bit in mind, it is possible to use the majority of them with any microcontroller.


Partnership With Schools

Designed in conjunction with schools, the SparkFun gator:boards are currently in use in both Beaverton School District in Oregon and Denver Public Schools in Colorado. Both districts reached out to SparkFun looking to bring computational thinking to their students. From there, we built partnerships to create the boards they needed and get them into the hands of students.

“If you want to start integrating [coding] more in other classes and throughout the curriculum into the other classes, I would recommend going with the gator:boards with alligator clips because it just makes it so much more accessible to teachers and students.”

Dawn GuildnerInnovation Strategist
Beaverton School District

gator:bit Ecosystem

The SparkFun ecosystem for micro:bit was designed to grow with students, and the gator:board line is no exception. We recommend the gator:boards for students as early as fourth grade due to the manual dexterity required to utilize alligator clips. From there, these boards can easily be suited to students through seventh grade and beyond.

gatorbit

gator:bit

increase accessibility with larger board and alligator clips

Beginner


gator:control protosnap

gator control protosnap

add buttons and switches

gator:starter protosnap

gator starter protosnap

add sensors (temperature & light)

gator:color protosnap

gator color protosnap

add additional lights

Intermediate


gator:environment

gator environment

take atmospheric readings

gator:particle

gator particle

detect particles and materials

gator:microphone

gator microphone

visualize sound

gator:soil

gator soil

measure soil conductivity

gator:UV

gator uv sensor

read ultraviolet light

gator:RTC

gator real time clock

real time clock

gator:log

gator openlog

log and save data

“I think it helps students become proficient in the use of a vast variety of different technologies and it entices them to think, “If I’m really successful at this now, this could be a part of my future.” They’re definitely more passionate about it because of that.”

Courtney Hauser4th Grade Teacher
Beaverton School District