As you may have already heard (perhaps a few times), SparkFun semi-recently launched a new website called learn.sparkfun.com. This website is the home of our Department of Education and is completely dedicated to - you guessed it - electronics education. It is SparkFun's hope to make electronics an intergral part of the classroom. The SparkFun education team (currently teaching the first day of the SparkFun Summer Semester over in the classroom) is really excited to be part of this new initiative.
Today, we just wanted to share a couple videos we received from a SparkFun customer who is using the SparkFun Inventor's Kit in his classroom. It is awesome to see these kids excitement as they start exploring the world of electronics. Check out the videos to see for yourself:
Pretty awesome. If you are interested in learning more about electronics, or perhaps know a teacher who wants to bring embedded electronics into their classroom, head over to learn.sparkfun.com and see what's going on!
"It's the game of the century!"
Do you know how happy Riley will be that someone thought he was funny?
This will be very interesting to follow. I taught AP Physics, Chem, and Math. The vast majority of school systems basically have the funds to buy kits of paper clips and rubber bands and a "lesson plan". Can you make a business of this? Many have tried, but few with the variety of resources of Sparkfun. Edmunds comes to mind but they tend to sell one-shot tools and instruments that consume considerable portions of the budget.
This is how education should be, enthusiastic kids devouring knowledge so they can create what they imagine.
What are those beam-interrupt devices they are using? I'm not finding them - they look great!
They aren't SFE gear, there from the equally impressive electronics shop That is my basement. They are garage door safety sensors. They are 12v but switch to ground.
Could you post some more information on how you got the safety sensors to work with arduino? Code or rough schematic? I read that when the beam is broken, the voltage goes high, but when the beam is made it pulses for .5ms every 6.5ms. I watched the other video and it didn't look like you had any additional IC's, just the arduino? Thanks for any help / hints!
Thank you for being a great teacher!!!
So does this mean that Nate is going to use this to speed up shipping?