Skip to main content

Scratch Dance Pad

My 4th and 5th grade STEM class students created an interactive light and sound dance machine. Using a Picoboard, a sensor board, the students designed and created mat switches to interact with a dance program they coded on Scratch. Two pieces of structure materials, such as cardboard, were lined with foil on one side of each panel. Students determined that the two pieces had to be separated slightly with the foil-lined sides facing each other. They used tissue, foam cutouts, paper, and other insulators to separate the two halves of their mat switches.


While some student groups began mapping out their dance pad layout, others finished making their various mat switch designs. Speaker wire was used to connect the electrical current to each dance pad or switch. The wire then connected to the alligator clips on the Picoboard. The Picoboard connected to a computer that projected its screen on an interactive white board.


Students created and executed their own computer programs using Scratch. When a student stepped on a mat switch, the circuit closed and ran a code in their program to show different colors and play different sounds on the interactive white board. Each mat switch activated a unique combination of color and sound, depending on the group’s Scratch program.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tippe Top Design

The physics behind the tippe top toy have been the subject of studies by scientists for years - dating back to the early 1890s. The tippe top is spun just like any other top, but pulls a surprise stunt. The top flips over and spins on its stem when given a strong twist. Why does the tippe top flip over? What does this mean for anyone planning to make one on a 3D printer? Nobel Prize winners, Wolfgang Pauli and Niels Bohr, take a break with a tippe top at the 1954 inauguration of the Institute of Physics in Lund, Sweden. Early Top Patents The first patent for the top, listed as “Wendekreisel”, was filed in Germany by Helene Sperl in 1891. While the patent seems to describe the top’s inversion property, reproductions of the top have proved unsuccessful. The patent expired after one year because the fee wasn’t paid. During a trip to South America, Danish engineer Werner Østberg noticed kids spinning a small, round fruit. While spinning, the fruit would flip over (or...
Post a Comment
Read more

micro:bit Fireworks with Python

I used the MicroPython editor to program a fireworks animation that controls the brightness of the LEDs as the firework explodes on the LED display. For young computer science students, this is a great introduction to text-based programming, arrays, and animating LEDs. Code # Display message and show pacman with firework option from microbit import * firework1 = Image("00000:00000:00000:00000:00200") firework2 = Image("00000:00000:00000:00200:00100") firework3 = Image("00000:00000:00200:00100:00000") firework4 = Image("00000:00000:00900:00000:00000") firework5 = Image("00000:07870:08580:07870:00000") firework6 = Image("60706:01210:72127:01210:60706") firework7 = Image("30503:00000:50005:00000:30503") firework8 = Image("10201:00000:20002:00000:10201") all_firework = [firework1, firework2, firework3, firework4, firework5, firework6, firework7, firework8] while True: if button_a.is_pressed(): ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Carrot Cutter Invention

My daughter enjoys inventing and creating. For a summer project, she designed and built a carrot cutting machine. Using littleBits and some household materials, I helped her construct a prototype based on her design. Lindsey's Original Design Mechanism Concept Sketch Materials dowel rods duct tape littleBits modules plastic knives cardboard box paperclip plastic carrots littleBits Schematic Modules 1 push button 1 servo motor (set to swing) 2 wire modules 1 power module 1 long LED Lever System Test Internal Components Test It Pushing the button on top of the box causes the LED to light up, showing that the machine is operating. Meanwhile, the servo pulls and pushes the lever system that causes the plastic knives to move up and down. The plastic carrots are sliced and diced!
Post a Comment
Read more