The PIC24-based 16-bit microcontroller development platform from Stratford Digital includes two boards: the MX PIC24 Module and MX Educational Target Board and a free software download of an Educator’s Lab Manual, including 10 labs on topics ranging from 'Intro to Microcontrollers,' to timers, pulse-width modulation and analog-to-digital converters, to power management.

The MX PIC24 Module (above) includes an onboard PIC24FJ256GB110 16-bit microcontroller from Microchip that features 256 KB flash program memory and 16 KB RAM.  The module also includes 32 KB on-chip EEPROM and an onboard debugger/programmer.  

The MX Educational Target Board (below) accepts any MX module and includes a breadboard area, plus SPI, I2C, RS-232, CAN and JTAG ports, along with four LEDs.  General tools needed for the lab manual, such as Microchip’s MPLAB IDE v.8.63, are also included.