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​For Busy Middle School Teachers

Arduino in the Middle School Classroom

3/11/2018

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A colleague of mine introduced me to the wonderful world of Arduino.  These simple microcontrollers allow you to program, build and create simple inventions using inexpensive microcontrollers.  There is a vast online community that offers sample code and ideas.  From this humble introduction we currently have middle school students. . ..
  • Creating lighted curtains for the musical
  • Building remote sensors to monitor the school garden
  • Creating remote sensors to monitor our aquariums and hydroponics set ups.
  • Planning a Light and Music night, using LED strips to light up sculptures. 
  • Remote Controlled Moon Phase Models
So what exactly can you do with them in a middle school classroom, anything you want!
Arduino starter kits cost around $35.00 via Amazon.  You will need a computer to use Arduino IDE, the programming language.  There are online versions and ones you can download to the computer.  It seems that most of the online versions charge a small fee, while the downloadable versions ask for a donation (not required).  I used Donorschoose.org to fund my latest  project and it took about a week.  There are many companies and individuals looking to support STEM based teaching ideas. 
So instead of asking your students to make a model, or an imaginary invention.  Take the next step and ask them to create the real thing using Arduino controllers!  I will be writing more on the topic in upcoming articles.  If you do get started, I would suggest trying the Blink program.  It turns a light on and off on the control board and introduces you to the basics of coding.     

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  • Blog
  • Professional Development
    • Designing Online Content for Middle School
    • HyFlex Classroom
  • Sequenced Lesson Plans
    • Earthquakes for Middle School
    • Teaching Science Process
    • Metric Measurement
    • Cells
    • Geologic Time
    • Genetics in Middle School
    • Computer Skills
    • Google Apps in Middle School Science
    • Ecology
  • My TPT Store