Jeff Branson Education Outreach Coordinator Derek Runberg Curriculum Curator #nsta14 MAKER SCIENCESCIENCE
Pause… Before we move any further, let’s make sure that we all know each other in this room? Please introduce yourself to the person(s) sitting in your general vicinity. Tell them a few things about yourself, maybe: – where you’re from – what you teach – why you’re here – what you hope to get out of this….
About Us At SparkFun, our focus is all about creation, innovation, and sharing information. Open Source Hardware is at the core of our business. We emphasize researching, re- mixing, adapting, making improvements, and sharing with the world!
“Teachers that make… Make great teachers” -Anonymous
Arduino / Microcontrollers a.k.a. Physical Computing “Arduino is a tool for making computers that can sense and control more of the physical world than your desktop computer.” A micro-controller is essentially a brain – or, think of a bunch of programmable “elves…” It is the guts of something like Vernier, Pasco, or Fourier
What can this thing do? Remember, think programmable “elves” We can use this to: -Turn on lights -Interface cameras (take photos) -Log sensor data (temp, pressure, humidity, light…) -Communicate with your PC and the internet (a.k.a. Internet of Things) -Take Science Fair to the next level…
How it works? SERIAL 9600 baud
Hardware Configurations / Connections What’s a Pin? 14 general digital input / output pins 6 analog input pins (Pins A0 – A5) Nitty Gritty: Powered off anything from 7 – 15V DC Voltage Regulator provides 5V and 3.3V Standard TTL logic – 5V is HIGH, and 0V is LOW.
Getting started Download Arduino from: Follow their directions on installation.
Startup Arduino IDE Double-click on either the Arduino Icon or wherever you installed (saved) the Arduino program.
Plug in your RedBoard (Arduino)
Lesson #0 – Setting up Arduino 1.Setup Board – Arduino Uno 2.Setup COM Port – PC – Highest COM # – Mac – /dev/tty.usbserial-A####xXx
Tools Board Arduino Uno Setup Board
Tools Serial Port Setup COM Port PC – Highest COM # Mac – /dev/tty.usbserial- A####xxx
Anatomy of code General syntax: – Case-sensitive – Semi-colons – Curly-brackets void functionName()
Just the basics Turning an LED on and off…
Open Challenges 1)Create a heartbeat – a realistic one! 2)What is the fastest blink that your eye can detect? What is the frequency of this blink? Now, move the LED back and forth – do you see a “trail”? What are some interesting scientific investigations you can explore with this? 3)What about making a timer?? – blink the LED for 10 seconds and then stop! 4)What other ideas?
Introducing the Danger Shield What’s a Shield?
Sensing – Slider – AnalogRead(A0)
Serial Monitor SERIAL 9600 baud
Sensing – Light – AnalogRead(A3)
Sensing – Temp – AnalogRead(A4) This sensor: TMP36 has a sensitivity of 10 mV / °C = 100°C / V and is 750 mV at 25 °C.
Converting between ADC value to voltage?
Pre-created example programs
Preview of Digital SandBox Slider / PotentiometerSwitch Motor / Speaker Out Push Button Microphone Light Sensor Temp Sensor LED Array RGB LED Arduino
Now what? Interested in professional development? Want to learn more? – Check-out our SparkFun Inventor’s Kit (SIK) – Also sold as a lab-pack for schools – 15 complete circuits with a full-color experiment guide. – Guide is available as a PDF. Teacher Prof. Dev Workshops available: – Contact:
Questions? Interested in any of this? us about our 20% educator discount –