> At the end of the four-day course, each student received a Raspberry Pi 400
So, the number of participants was limited to 5?
I don't know, that sounds a bit problematic. I would have opted for helping students set up a Python environment on their PCs or laptops (and maybe kept the RPi's to students who may not have one; although identifying students in this situation may be tricky)
> I would have opted for helping students set up a Python environment on their PCs or laptops
You assume that students have a PC or laptop particularly one they can do whatever they want on and that even if they do parents are happy with them installing development tooling on the laptop.
Some people have work issued laptops and know nothing about computers. They might be working remotely for a call centre nowadays, very common - so no, you can't install any tools on those. And even if you could I know many parents who wouldn't let their children install anything on their work machines as if that stops working they will get in trouble at work.
It seems like giving out RPi's seem like the perfect reward. It's tangible and it helps keep environments separate versus a Windows or Mac laptop. Kids can take risks on the RPi by breaking things which is a good learning technique.
I do hope the kids can retain any enthusiasm for using the RPis after the course is over, otherwise it might just sit on their shelf doing nothing. That's a bit pessimistic, I guess, but I definitely went through seasons of ignoring tech toys I'd been so excited about initially.
+1 for being able to break things, though. I know I'm way more likely to try risky (and educational!) maneuvers on a spare computer than the one I have to use for (home)work, assuming I even have one.
So, the number of participants was limited to 5?
I don't know, that sounds a bit problematic. I would have opted for helping students set up a Python environment on their PCs or laptops (and maybe kept the RPi's to students who may not have one; although identifying students in this situation may be tricky)