Week 10

Assignments

• [ ] Task 1: link 2 devices to communicate to each other.

Process

• I do not have internet enabled Arduino devices in my lab, and while I thought it might be possible to do some bluetooth connectivity with a makeblock robot, I decided to try for the learning opportunity, in using arduino to send, receive, and decode IR signals.

• My first test was with a single Arduino UNO and an IR remote, using a protocol from a tutorial linked below. It took a little experimentation to get to a point where the received signals were anything other than gibberish, but I eliminated all the protocols which did not work, and eventually got a successful NEC encoded signal to decode into a command code.

• I recognize that I could parse that into a more intelligible name for a button, but I decided to move on to phase 2, and decided to try using a second Arduino to send an encoded IR signal to be decoded by my receiver. For the sender, I am using a set built together to use an emitter and receiver together to do some range-finding, so it’s more than I need, but it will certainly work to send a signal. Having installed the IR-Remote library, I pulled two pieces of example code for “tinySender” and “tinyReceiver” and set them up on respective devices.

• I loaded the sender with its code, and a simple repeating pattern, then unplugged it from the computer and set it with battery power, so I could know for sure the messages were not travelling by any other method.

• AND behold! There was not much consistency, it seemed the sender and receiver could not be very far apart, and alignment was key, but I was able to get the serial monitor on the receiver to display that it had received commands from the sender. I even modified the code a little so that when a certain signal was received, it would be acknowledged with a beep on a piezo that I had plugged in. I imagine with a little work, these could be paired to share info across spaces where wires would be impractical, but I am not sure how effective it could be, at least, the way I currently have it set up.

Reflection

• I do work as a service technician for other maker spaces in my community as needs arise, and have often collaborated on projects for Mardi Gras Parades and other large events. Currently I have been working frequently with a local Low-power FM radio station, and could see that being a means of helping to share messages of empowerment where they are needed, as well as connecting needs to resources.

• Honestly, I have been craving a better connection between the makerspaces in the city, and may end up moving on from the school to participate in opening a new city level space that has recently been proposed, should that opportunity be open to me.

• I know I can already use some physical computing to bridge technological gaps at the radio station, and have recently invested in hardware to do some autonomous gardening on my porch. I could imagine teaching classes on that, if I am successful in my prototype.

• I think next steps for the makerspace will include strengthening community ties internally first, meaning increasing focus about getting every student to have an experience in the lab every year. Along with that, strenghtening ties out in the community offers broader opportunities for students. Prior to COVID, there was a network of local makerspace manages. Since in-person classes returned that club hasn’t. So there is a gap to be filled that can benefit not just our space, but spaces all over our city.

Tools

• Arduino, IR sensor, IR collision-detector, breadboard, battery.
• References or tutorials followed

Field Activity Reflections

1. The collaboration partner for this is a 5th grade teacher who wanted to incorporate numerical measurements into real-world application. We started from a goal of building a car from popsicle sticks, and I brought in the idea of using the popsicle sticks as more intentional modular parts, and to teach modeling, since there was one stick in the library of TinkerCAD which could be measured using the software, then compared against a physical example, and indeed, surveyed by the students, who, each measuring their own popsicle stick, bring their measurements together to establish an average set of stick dimensions.

   Then they were challenged to scale those for the bigger stick, and model it as well. This allowed practice for both modifying and creating new shapes in TinkerCAD, and all of it grounded by the growing spatial awareness as the students considered and were guided along the path toward the interlocking parts, creating dimensional slots for parts to fit into one another. It’s worth noting that as the students worked individually, Jason was in the classroom with a relatively fresh perspective on the techniques for modeling, having only gotten a brief look at things while we were putting the lesson for the day together, so he often helped students troubleshoot models, while also learning the TinkerCAD environment fresh alongside them. His observations helped to scale and scaffold as we went along, because he could experience the tricky instructions ahead, and ask questions with the vocabulary to describe what about an instruction might pose challenges, and how we might address it.

2. Challenges arose in practicing ruler reading, as the group of students we had intended to work with were 5th grade, and the learners we met with were all in 3rd and 4th grades. This gave us an opportunity to seek further simplifications still, and it is noteworthy that this project also includes several parts which the students did not participate in designing, due to limitations in time and scope of the lesson. Measuring the motors and digital components for slot placements that would not crowd any parts out was an intentional choice to further the math goal, where students would be challenged to add or subtract dimensions of components in order to constrain new features. We modeled techniques for measuring using a document camera displayed to a projection screen, and talked in work sessions about how someone with limited vision might still be able to use a digital caliper with a modified output which announces dimensions out loud, as this linked project demonstrates.

3. Talking Calipers

4. This lesson seems to me to fall in the interdisciplinary section of the continuum, and perhaps moving toward transdisciplinary. There is no specific math, physical science or engineering thinking lesson constrained as a part of this project, each area is sampled from within multiple elements of the lesson. Perhaps a step toward advancing it toward transdisciplinary would include bringing in a subject matter expert from the automotive field to share some insight into how the design elements the students came into contact with relate in the broader scope of designing and testing a car.

5. AI was tasked with evaluating our drafted learning goals against the rubric we created, and providing feedback about whether those goals were specific and aligned to the rubric. We also asked for feedback about our Standards alignment, and said feedback allowed us to eliminate weaker alignments entirely. Lastly, I tasked the bot about whether a more efficient version of the L298N motor driver existed. It offered several recommendations for assemblies with parts I had not heard about, (including the one Stephen had mentioned in one of our group sessions.) I ended up sticking with the L298N for this version, but might be able to try some of the others later.

6. My teaching has shifted about the role that learning outcomes play in lesson planning. I had entered this course from a perspective that held “by the end of the lesson, x will have occured.” While I could define it using terms suggestive of learning outcomes, I didn’t percieve having anyone to check in with about it. This often meant that by the time lessons were taught, learning outcome alignment had drifted substantially, even from a vaguely defined and often poorly measurable initial statement. Re-centering the learning outcomes as a critical component constraining the lesson activities has been a bit of a challenge at times, but has resulted in lessons which are much more clearly defined than I have ever managed before. I hope to continue practicing that, and even help support other teachers as they implement DF with students, from the perspectives of their own learning outcome goals.