Equippping a lab

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flounder
 
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Joined: Wed Sep 18, 2013 9:10 pm

Equippping a lab

Post by flounder »

I am a volunteer in a teen-maker project. One of the problems is that, for reasons unknown to anyone, their grant money arrived this week, and has to be spent in the next week or it goes away (they've been running on a shoestring for the last few months).

So the question is, what is the best way to spend this money (approximately $1K)? They have tiny85 processor boards and development systems, including the classic LEDs, speakers, pushbuttons, etc. What is more interesting is what sensors/peripherals might be best for the teen audience. I showed the P.I. the Adafruit site, and pointed out that devices such as the IR remote temperature sensor were probably not going to specifically useful by the audience, but servo motors, IR remote control receivers, and similar sensors/effectors might be more in line with the needs of 12-through-16-year-olds. So I'm soliciting suggestions from those who have already built labs as to the utility of accelerometers, compasses, gyroscopic sensors, CdS cells, temperature sensors, humidity sensors, etc., etc.

Suggestions as to useful books would also be appreciated; I'm going to be donating some books, and the focus will be, I think, to Arduino and compatibles (such as the Tiny85 boards they have, and the Hummingbird next-generation which is Arduino-shield-compatible). I have strongly suggested sticking with one type of board (the low-cost Tiny85s) insofar as possible. This is just to make the number of projects manageable, and these boards are available from a local source who has donated several to the effort. So the idea would be to buy some assortment of sensors from Adafruit, and I will put together a collection of their associated Learning System pages for the kids, so we're looking for books that would cover more general topics of programming and circuit design. I'm too far from my own learning experience to be able to judge what books are best, and I have not taught electronics to this age group before.

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: Equippping a lab

Post by Franklin97355 »

Servos and pir sensors will let you see movement and respond. Always a visually exciting event.

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