Quickstart Guide

This is a discussion for the Quickstart Guide.

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I’m unable to download the Seeeduino software. When following the directions for downloading, after opening Device Manager there is no COM/LPT or Other Devices option…

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I’m not sure this is the most helpful for your situation (I’m not super techy), but when I tried to download it, not much happened, but when I plugged the board in with the USB drive, it downloaded the drivers automatically. Good Luck!

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Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum?
I teach a basic electronics/programming unit in my high school and STEM classes, so this fits in perfectly. We cover a little about Arduino and Raspberry Pi so this would just dovetail in with what I have done before.

Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support in order to be successful? Students generally need a little help at the beginning and once they find some success the rest of the unit goes a lot smoother. If they get frustrated at first then they believe that this is not something they can do and just shut down.

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 generally believe the opposite of what most people believe a successful teacher looks like. I do NOT hover over their shoulders and help when I am needed. The kids need to suffer and fail a little. If I do it for them or heavily hold their hands during the process they do not feel success but completion of the project.

If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your student’s role during the class. What does “student success” look like?
Student success is students showing off their work to you or their friends. They are smiling and feel like they own the world. Success is not necessarily doing what you expect or want them to do. If a student tries a new thing and fails they are still successful. They learned and attempted something new, which for me counts as a bigger win than just checking off a task.

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Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum?
I teach K-5 STEM/Science. This lesson (and many of the BL lessons I imagine) would really be appropriate for my 4-5 graders. Our students do a good amount of coding and CS work here so this would definitely give them an opportunity to apply some of their coding skills. I use LittleBits with some of my upper grades and they really enjoy working with circuits and electronic components. I think this intro to the BL kit would take them to a whole new level.

Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support in order to be successful?
I think like anything else, the initial starting off point can be a bit difficult for students. Seeing as working with this type of kit would be pretty new to most of them, I can see a fair amount of uncertainty at first. My kids generally pick things up pretty quick so I imagine their comfort level and confidence would increase after bit of time tinkering.

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 model this lesson first and field any questions students may have. Once I turn it over to the kids, my role would be more of a facilitator. I would provide feedback, ask questions and guide them verbally. I would not “do it for them”. I would let them try, fail and fail again if need be, all the while doing my best to encourage their persistence. Its hard to watch students struggle some times, knowing what the solution is, but its that very struggle that leads them to acquiring a deeper understanding.

If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your student’s role during the class. What does “student success” look like?
If I were to teach this to my students I would have them work with partners (pilot and navigator). Ideally, they would have plenty of time to explore this new resource. In doing this, I would expect them to make connections between the various sensors and components to devices they use in their everyday life. This, along with their attitude, enthusiasm and willingness to keep at it would indicate “success” in my eyes.

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I completely agree with your approach. As an elementary teacher, I feel that if I can push my students to be independent and not rely so heavily on me, then they will be better prepared for the challenges of middle and high school. I also believe that if I can inspire their curiously in all things STEM early on, this will carry over into the later years. If a students’ spark hasn’t been lit by the time they get out of elementary school, it can be really difficult to ignite later on.

I’d love to hear about some of the Arduino and Raspberry Pi projects you do with your students.

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I have never gone real in-depth with Arduino or the Pi with most of my students. There is too much to cover and do in class that I don’t spend a ton of time on the programming part. My class is a maker class and I want to spend most of the time on projects where they are making something where the Arduino or the Pi is part of the project and not THE project. I generally look for simple projects that have videos or very good instructions for the students to follow. My maker projects come from the Make magazine website or maker youtube channels. I hate doing the same thing twice so I am constantly looking for the next project. Currently we are making a full size, clasroom arcade with the new Pi and retroPie. I have done a lot of eTextiles and sewable circuits that use the Lilypad family of products which are a form of Arduino. The projects are a ton of fun for both male and especially female students.

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@johnteuscher @ArdusatExplorer-2328 We have a lesson on how to integrate the Because Learning/Ardusat sensor board with a Raspberry Pi: https://ehub.ardusat.com/experiments/1958 Take a look if you have a chance, we’d love your feedback!

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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)?

I teach Environmental Science, which comprises various sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, etc.). Knowing how the sensors work is very important for my classes, because students can decide what sensors to use for each experiments and design adequate data collection strategies.

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

The coding. It might take a while to learn and be comfortable with the coding itself, as many of my students have never approached the programming side of technology. The coding language is pretty intuitive though, so I think they would learn quickly.

  1. 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?

Demonstrate and guide the students through each step. Explain each step while the demonstration proceeds and why the code is written the way it is. It is important to associate each command term and number in the code with the function and how the computer interprets them.

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

At first, my goal would be for them to become familiar with the sensors and the basic code. To do so, once they have uploaded and run the code, I’d like for them to tinker with the data to see what happens as they explore. If they can explain how they change parameters in the code and affect the outcome, they are being successful.

Thanks,
Gianluca

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Michael,

I think this is a perfect setting for students to work in group. I totally agree with you; even in high school (I teach high school Science), I would have them work as a team and problem solve through the challenges they face step-by-step.

Gianluca

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@DHSSTEM Thank you so much for your reflection! We have two lessons that allow the students to pick which sensors they want to take data from–it requires a little bit of coding to “comment out” the sensors they don’t want to use and to “comment in” the sensors they do want to use.

The first one is for use with the sensor board, the Arduino, and a laptop or desktop computer (this is perfect for experiments where the sensor board does not need to be portable): https://ehub.ardusat.com/experiments/4248

The second lesson is for use with the sensor board, the Arduino, and the OLED (you can power the Arduino using the USB or the battery clip and 9V battery–this experiment makes the sensor board completely portable if you use the battery clip): https://ehub.ardusat.com/experiments/4701.

I like these two experiments because it makes the sensor board easy to integrate into any lesson you already teach in your classroom. Check them out if you have a chance!

My coworkers display has not worked from the beginning and my display started acting up and quit working. Any tips?

@ArdusatExplorer-2391
Kenna, Yikes! Can you send me pictures of your displays and describe how they are acting up to my email: lindsey@becauselearning.com

The quick start was so helpful to build confidence in setting up the sensors and get a feel for them before jumping into a lesson. It was nice to see how all the parts worked together, especially for an inexperienced programmer like me! This is a great confidence booster and interest getter for 1st timers like my young learners, so for them to interact with the sensors and observe how they’re used really help them visualize how they could use them to conduct real experiments. Success with this lesson was hearing all of the ways the kids want to use the tools here to continue learning. As the teacher, it is empowering to give them the tools for success and watch them push forward!

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I love this! I’m a firm advocate for empowering students to be independent/confident thinkers with the bravery to try new things and experiment! Can’t wait to see how far they take their new learning!!

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Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum?

This could fit in with scientific method to predict and test what would happen when they start to navigate this material.

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

They would need help identifying materials and just overall getting acquainted with it.

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?

For just the getting started portion it would be more model after me. I would have each of them just follow my lead until they were able to get it up and running and practice using the equipment.

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

Success would be being able to read the display and give ideas to what it is telling us.

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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)?

I teach middle school science (earth, life, and physical science). The sensor unit can be used to gather a wide range of data for a multitude of experiments. Currently, we collect data using tools like thermometers, stop watches, etc. Developing the skill to use sensors like the one in this kit would promote reliable data collection and allow for more effective data analysis. One example would be that we cover mechanisms of heat transfer. Currently we take temperature readings using thermometers and temperature guns. More accurate data recording could be achieved through the use of the sensor and graphing capabilities. Multiple units could record temperature readings from different spots at the same time.

Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support in order to be successful? I feel that a majority of my students would be able to successfully complete this lesson with minimal support. I did not have previous exposure to any sort of programming and I found the instructions easy to follow and the activities helped me to develop confidence in my skills.

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 allow students to complete the lesson at their own pace. To scaffold, I would have some students work in pairs and others could work independently. After presenting the goals of the lesson, I would circulate around the class to monitor student progress and help mentor individuals who are having difficulties. Students whom are progressing faster could be utilized to help coach any struggling students.

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 would be required to complete the steps of the unit as presented. Students who more easily grasp how to use the board, could be used to coach other students, be given additional challenges to reinforce skills, or be allowed to move onto the next unit. Success would be reflected by a student’s ability to accomplish the tasks in the guide, with or without assistance.

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@ArdusatExplorer-2302 Thank you for your reflection Eric! We have two lessons that allow the students to pick which sensors they want to take data from–it requires a little bit of coding to “comment out” the sensors they don’t want to use and to “comment in” the sensors they do want to use.

The first one is for use with the sensor board, the Arduino, and a laptop or desktop computer (this is perfect for experiments where the sensor board does not need to be portable): https://ehub.ardusat.com/experiments/4248

The second lesson is for use with the sensor board, the Arduino, and the OLED (you can power the Arduino using the USB or the battery clip and 9V battery–this experiment makes the sensor board completely portable if you use the battery clip): https://ehub.ardusat.com/experiments/4701.

I like these two experiments because it makes the sensor board easy to integrate into any lesson you already teach in your classroom. Check them out if you have a chance!

I have similar concerns about students struggling the coding terminology at first. As this is all new to me, I have started putting together a spreadsheet in which each line includes the goal of the programming (example: draw a line) and the commands used to accomplish that goal. This might make a good reference guide.

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I am the librarian at a middle school, so part of my job is to find resources for teachers. I can see sharing this with my science people, having them go through the same steps we followed. I think after that, any of our science teachers could use this lesson in their class if they had the kits.
I have Makerspace Mondays after school in the library. I could use this lesson with those students. I’m thinking of adding Tinker Tuesdays, so I can see students wanting to try this. We already have Little Bits and Makey Makey.
As for needing support, I can see they could have some of the same difficulties I had. My display did not always work. When I first had the data recording on my computer, I was very successful. As soon as I tried to show my husband (of course!), the computer only recorded the luminosity, not the temperature. And it took a few times to get it to work. I can see that these kind of challenges will happen and we will just have to tinker a bit to get everything to work.
I can see my role as modeling once, or just letting the students dig in and follow directions. I know I thought What the heck am I doing??, but I just did one step at a time, and I felt a great sense of accomplishment! I liked it enough to keep going with other lessons.
My students would probably be much more self-confident and eager to experiment with the sensor board, display, and microcontroller. I was worried that I might damage the sensor board or microcontroller. I hope they are sturdier than I think they are.
The coding might be challenging - just at first.
Getting more kits would be necessary.

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