Arduino in the Middle School Classroom

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.