Computational Thinking PO2

This activity is a good introduction to using an Arduino and a breadboard for prototyping electronic components and circuits.  The students have to make a simple circuit and program the LED to blink.  The natural extension to this is to then make a traffic light, with a control switch.   At first the code simply controls the rate at which the LED blinks, then the pattern of the LEDs blinking in sequence, then finally with the introduction of the switch, the LEDs are controlled by an external factor or input.

If you are new to this kind of coding then this resource is a great help to enable you to support your students:  Circuito.  This site allows you to drag and drop components onto a virtual Arduino and breadboard and then supplies you with the basic code to make your set up run.

As a further extension, this traffic light activity could be extended to integrate with Scratch and a Makey Makey to have digital traffic lights control the physical LEDs on the breadboard.

To use this resource, simply make a copy of this resource and rename it so that you become the owner of it then adapt it to meet the learning needs/intentions of your students/planning.  If you want us to make more of this kind of resource please contact us at david@dakinane.com and we will make more resources to share with you, related to your need.