robotics

For the love of Arduino -Getting Started

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My History with Arduino

I’m not sure of the way most people learn the complicated process of programming Arduino projects because I only know my own convoluted journey. I started the hard way following projects from the Arduino Starter Kit by building photo sensor theremins and electronic magic 8 balls. Here is one of my first Arduino projects I created at a class at the Denton Public Library. (The tweet below is a flashback to the Coding Bonanza I led at Lamar Library in 2014.)

I quickly found that I wanted to do things OTHER than what the projects outlined, but I just didn’t have the code knowledge to hack projects and make them my own. I continued following projects and attempting to tinker with code. For someone with absolutely no background in coding, it was quite an arduous journey. Imagine my surprise when I found out about the ScratchX extension from Kreg Hanning at SXSWedu in 2015!

ScratchX

What a great place to start tinkering with Arduino! I love the work that Ryan Jenkins and The Tinkering Studio are now doing with paper circuits and ScratchX! I see this as a great place to start kids experimenting with Arduino kits (even though one of my favorite things is hooking up wires.) I’m hoping to put my own library Arduino kits on blocks and make first time users more comfortable playing with Arduino and physical computing.

But how can I get students learning the complicated language of Arduino without handing them a large Arduino Cookbook ?

Starter Arduino Kits (Arduino at Heart)

Hummingbird Robotic Kits and the littleBits Arduino module are great places to start. (I have my own littlebits Arduino project featuring Ardublock in our #bigmakerbook and another free littleBits project here. ) These two kits require minimal electronics knowledge, and can be combined with cardboard, googly eyes, and pipe cleaners to make amazing contraptions.

One can also begin to tinker with Arduino coding with any of these kits:

Tinkering with Arduino Lesson Plan

Plus, I’ve developed a lesson plan with the Sparkfun Tinkering Kit that revolves around tinkering with scribblebots and Arduino programming. It’s available at Teachers Pay Teachers.

I wrote it as a challenge to myself because I don’t normally see Arduino as a tinkerable process. It takes quite a lot of knowledge and expertise before one can start to tinker with Arduino coding. That’s why I thought it would be great to develop a lesson around tinkering with Arduino code to actually learn how to write your own code.  Check out the lesson here.

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Biggest Takeaway from the Robotics Webinar

/ gravescolleen / 1 Comment

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to present with Mark Gura, author, and Sharon Thompson of Dream Workshop. I wanted to address some of the biggest takeaways from the Robotics webinar to follow up on yesterday’s post. Even though these takeaways are from a robotics webinar, they are applicable to all aspects of becoming a maker librarian! I often speak to these points when presenting to others interested in starting a makerspace, and it was nice to hear that reiterated by Mark and Sharon, some robotics experts!

  • You don’t have to be an expert to start. In fact, it is actually better if you learn alongside the kids!
  • It’s good for kids to see you learning. When I taught ELA, one of my favorite lessons was modeling a “think aloud.” I think a makerspace embraces that type of teaching. In a makerspace, the facilitator shouldn’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know how that works. Let’s figure it out together.”
  • A makerspace is a powerful place of learning because students are not only taught to problem solve, but they are taught to persevere!
  • Robotics can help students with the Design Thinking Mindset and the Engineering Design Process.
  • There are many ways to solve a problem. Robotics, programming and other maker activities can teach students that there is more than one right answer!

Edit: 1/29/16: After reading Sylvia Martinez’s blog post this morning, I realized I left an important element out of the equation on this infographic. Failing does not equal success.  Many students fail and it is not good for them. It is the persistence, determination, and steadfastness that students endure when working in our makerspace that gives them (and me!) growth! 

Robotics (3)