Controlling Our World
Contributed by
Thomas Preece, August 29, 2014
Young people are surrounded by sophisticated high-tech devices that are designed to be easy-to use without an understanding of how they work. The Technology Volunteers at the University of Warwick take the opposite approach: providing opportunities for young people to build sensors and control outputs and reflect on how such devices work.
An Arduino is a little device that allows you to connect inputs such as light sensors or temperature sensors and outputs such as lights and motors together and control them depending on how you program them. With the new program I've designed(freely available at the link below) you can now hook up the Arduino to Scratch and control it using your Scratch blocks.
These resources guide you step by step through using an Arduino with Scratch(and using the required software) assuming almost no computing skills and assuming no electronic skills or Arduino skills. Just plug it in and go. By using these resources your pupils should not only gain basic knowledge in electronics but also start to understand how the compilcated devices they use everyday (phones,computers,etc) work.
The free software and worksheets are available at http://thomaspreece.com/Resources/
An Arduino is a little device that allows you to connect inputs such as light sensors or temperature sensors and outputs such as lights and motors together and control them depending on how you program them. With the new program I've designed(freely available at the link below) you can now hook up the Arduino to Scratch and control it using your Scratch blocks.
These resources guide you step by step through using an Arduino with Scratch(and using the required software) assuming almost no computing skills and assuming no electronic skills or Arduino skills. Just plug it in and go. By using these resources your pupils should not only gain basic knowledge in electronics but also start to understand how the compilcated devices they use everyday (phones,computers,etc) work.
The free software and worksheets are available at http://thomaspreece.com/Resources/
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