I am beginning a new adventure with learning Arduino. I am the true definition of a noob in this realm of technology. I taught a STEM summer camp during the summer of 2014. We used Sphero Robots to practice coding. The kids loved it, but when camp was over, so was their ability to explore with Sphero unless they went out and bought one on their own. This is what initiated my exploration with Arduino. I wanted a tool for students to be able to hack, tinker and engineer. In addition, I wanted something that they could keep and continue to learn beyond the summer camp. With the -25 temperatures, it is hard to think that summer will be here soon. My goal this summer is to provide a beginner's camp on Arduino for 5th and 6th grade students. When the camp is over, these students will be able to keep the Arduino and some other supplies to continue their learning. My Initial Supplies I looked around at sites such as Adafruit, Sparkfun, and Amazon. I eventually decided on the kit pictured above. It is a Sunfounder New Uno R3 Super Starter Kit. It cost me a little under $50 for the kit. It looks like it has more than enough supplies to stress my brain out over the next few months. With my Sunfounder kit, I also purchased a book by Simon Monk called Programming Arduino Getting Started with Sketches. It was a highly recommended from the book I was reading titled Invent to Learn. As I mentioned, I am a complete beginner and have no prior experience with programming using any kind of computer language. My class did use Scratch in the fall during the Hour of Code. I was able to get Sprites to move around, talk, disappear and reappear. However, that is about as extensive as it gets with programming for me. While I waited for my kit to arrive, I read atutorial that I found linked fromAdruino's Website. As I was reading through it, I used Autodesk's web app called 123D Circuits. This resource allows you to virtually create circuits using an Arduino Uno and other electronic components. Below is a video about my learning so far. Share This:
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Andrew FenstermakerInstructional Technology Coordinator | Innovation Coach | Google Certified Innovator | Presenter | Blogger | Adjunct @UiowaEducation | Owner @kids_f_i_r_s_t |