Mission Possible (Engineering an Alarm) #4826

This is a discussion for the Mission Possible Experiment. Feel free to connect with the Learning Team here, or to discuss experiment tips, ask questions, leave comments or suggest experiment variations here.
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Link to the Mission Possible Webinar, recorded February 2018: Mission Possible: Laser Alarm Webinar - YouTube

Thank you for the very clear instructions and diagrams which make using the devices so easy and informative. Even someone with limited experience such as myself was able to get the peizo speaker to work as well as the photoresistor. While I already have a motion sensor on my door, it makes the Star Trek noise as if the doors were opening, this would be a fun way to incorporate a fun engineering activity for all learners.

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Hi everyone,

Thank you Lindsey and Kevin for a very interesting webinar yesterday. I learned a lot of good information that definitely helped me understand how the coding for this particular experiment works.

  1. Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum?

I would use this experiment mostly in an Engineering class or a in an applied/upper level Physics course.

  1. Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support to be successful?

Understanding the coding variables and values can be a challenging task for some students, especially for the photo-resistor information.

  1. What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson?

I would guide my students step-by-step through the interpretation of the sketch and wiring schematics, and then model an example for them.

  1. What does “student success” look like?

I think students would be successful in this experiment when they can apply the information and the skills learned to a real life scenario, for example in reference to monitoring student traffic in certain parts of the school.

Thanks,
Gianluca

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Gianiuca, Great idea ! :

Thank you Kevin

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  1. Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum (if the lesson is not a fit for the class you teach, how could the lesson be modified so that it is applicable to your curriculum)?

    This lesson would fit into my robotics and physics class. This would be a great experiment to add to the physics chapter about the photoelectric effect. The photoelectric is hard for the students to visualize. I think this would be a fun a way to help the class gain a more hands-on explanation. Make the subject come to life. In robotics, this a great introduction to sensors; how to use and programming them.

  2. Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support in order to successful?

    Lining up the LASER to hit the photo cell correctly, I think will be the hardest part. Second hardest part would be the modification of the code.

  3. If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your role during the class. What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson?

    This lab, I think would best if you have enough equipment for the class to work in groups of 2 or 3. It might also be fun to have a working model set-up and have the kids set off the alarm as the walk into the classroom.

  4. If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your student’s role during the class. What does “student success” look like?

    No, this will be a lesson that I teach next year. I would help them wire the circuit and line up the LASER, if they need help with it. With physics, they might need more help with the coding part of this equipment as well. If needed, I could hook up my computer up to the LCD project and help the class as a whole see the code.

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That is awesome!! It would be great to have the ability to add in those type of sound effects.

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Loved playing around with this lesson. I had to do some trouble shooting (my favorite part) to set the breadboard up correctly. Maybe it is time to see the Optometrist so I can see the connection holes better.

Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum?
I currently do a unit of reflection and refraction of light. One of the exercises that I do has the students use a series of mirrors to pass the beam of a laser town a path using mirrors. This lesson could dovetail with that.

Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support to be successful?
I think this lesson could be a little frustrating for some students. Those who have not developed the skill of deciphering code could find fixing the code to be challenging. Students who do not understand some of the aspects of electrical components and circuitry could struggle with wiring their breadboard, specifically attaching the components to the correct pins. Lining the laser up can be the biggest challenge.

What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson?
There needs to be lighting areas that are conducive to assembling the alarm systems and then to test the systems. In addition to rotating from group to group, I would have students who were successful at the task help mentor students who are struggling.

What does “student success” look like?
Success from the student perspective would be to create a device that works. Success from my perspective would be for the student to be able to explain how the device works.

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I love the idea of having an alarm system set-up when students come into the class. Having the alarm go off would cause excitement and curiosity about the lesson. Seems like a winner even before you start.

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The webinar was a great introduction to this experiment. I have so many gadgets in my room, my students will not be surprised when we get back from break that I will have set up an alarm around my desk. I feel that this is something my kids could easily do, and have a great time learning. I always wanted to learn about the alarms and the Piezo resistors.

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Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum (if the lesson is not a fit for the class you teach, how could the lesson be modified so that it is applicable to your curriculum)?
This is not a specific fit, but I have already connected with our high school physics teacher to be on the waiting list for the next session of Astroschool. For me this lesson would fall under a STEM Friday activity. The students would love this activity, and I hope to use it this fall.

Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support in order to successful?
My students have had very little experience with sensors and only some basic experience with coding, this would be a great activity to give them more experience.

If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your role during the class. What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson?

Again, this would be a engineering and design activity and students would be working in cooperative groups to design the experiment. My role would be to offer support and guidance as they worked through their logistics of use and placement of the photoresister and use of the piezo speaker.

If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your student’s role during the class. What does “student success” look like?

I could see student groups working to complete individual design schematics and they working together to incorporate team ideas into a more concrete plan of action. I am sure it would be a noisy, but excellent day to hear student engagement! I would be facilitating and helping student groups sort through any questions they might have and looking over their schematic sketches to help see design flaws for them to revise.

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I love the idea of having student teams maybe having a gallery walk to go team to team to explain their device!

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Thank you Lindsey and Kevin for the youtube link to the webinar! Sorry I couldn’t make it.

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  1. Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum (if the lesson is not a fit for the class you teach, how could the lesson be modified so that it is applicable to your curriculum)?
    This one did not fit in with my math curriculum as well as some of the others although it may work with some higher-level math classes. However, during the webinar Lindsey did suggest another lesson “Laser Particle Counter” which counts particles as they block the laser beam.
  2. Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support in order to be successful?
    Students would probably have the most trouble with making sure they have the breadboard set up correctly. I did this experiment with my 9 year old granddaughter and even though I explained how things needed to be lined up sometimes she would still miss by one row so we would have to troubleshoot to see why something wouldn’t work. She really enjoyed the experiment though. I think even my high school students would have trouble with this sometimes.
  3. If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your role during the class. What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson?
    I should be asking questions that get the students thinking and tying in past experiences to help formulate answers. I want students to learn by doing and discovering and have fun while doing so. That way they are interested and motivated.
  4. If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your student’s role during the class. What does “student success” look like?
    Students will be building a laser alarm and altering the code on the Arduino to make the Laser Alarm react in the way they want it to. Or in the case of the Laser Counter to have it count each item as it passes in front of the laser. I would want my students to see the practical applications of either one of these experiments in the real world. For example with the Laser Counter – peak shopping times in a store, number of cars that pass a certain point on the road, etc.
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I love the idea of the laser alarm going off as the students come into the room. Since I would probably use the Laser Counter experiment instead, since I teach math, I would probably have it count students as they enter the classroom but maybe add the sound as well just so they would wonder what was going on and peak their interest more.

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Again, I like this just for the STEM and engineering practice, so I would use this on its own as a lesson or a series of lessons.

I feel like my students would need a lesson in basic electronics before doing this lesson. Personally, I found myself wondering more about what the parts were and what they do specifically and I would have felt better having more working and background knowledge as well as vocabulary. I feel like kids would definitely have this issue too.

If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your role during the class. What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson?I would definitely provide a lot of background info and vocabulary before this lesson. During the lesson, I would walk around and make sure students are on the right track. I love that this lesson had a design step built in, so they have to think about how to set it up before building anything and testing it. That is very true to the engineering design process, and the step kids always want to skip because they want to get their hands on the materials.

If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your student’s role during the class. What does “student success” look like?I would have students working in teams to design and construct their alarm. Student success would look like them understanding the task and how all the parts work together along with the code and then sharing that theirs worked! I can imagine what a fun class period that would be!

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Yes! I like that idea, too!

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Ha- I was a little worried about my vision as well! I got it to work, so I must have gotten lucky lining everything up, but I definitely had a hard time seeing where things were going.

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I agree! This would be great. Hopefully I wouldm\n’t scare too many. This would be a great prank for April Fools day.

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I found this to be the most difficult lab to set up so far. I persisted and ended up very happy with the results. I would go over this set up step by step with my students and have them help each other. I don’t know how I would fit this into my curriculum. I do like that they sketch for this part of the lab. By looking at the sketch it helped me to understand. I am a visual learner and sketching it out and looking at the code was very helpful to understand what was occuring throughout the experiment.

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Wow. This was hard for me at first, but the webinar helped. (I’m not sure I would have been successful without the webinar.)
I went through it all without getting a sound. I was getting the message that the code ran correctly, and I could see the lights though. Then I figured out that I didn’t have the parts lined up correctly… and I was being so careful. So I redid my wires. Then I got the sound.
I didn’t really notice a difference in the volume when I used the laser though. Old hearing?

I watched parts of the webinar over and over. I found the part about changing the code very interesting, and I think the kids would really like that part. (Maybe they would find it fascinating just because I found it fascinating!) One thing I want to mention is that I could not always hear the sound from the piezo in the video.

When I tried to wire it to make the louder sound, I don’t think it got any louder. I wired it all up again, and then got no sound, until I used the laser. So I’m not sure that was what was supposed to happen or not.

I can share this with science teachers. I want to play around with it a lot more though, to see if I can get the louder sounds. I also want to try some of the things you showed in the webinar - making the really loud sound and using the LED.

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