John, Let's continue some conversation about teaching Teachers and Parents how to enable young people to encounter Arduino, STEM and technology in general in a positive way. Any other opinions, anyone??
Hi Terry,
I too am interested in this subject. I come from Singapore, and there isn't much of a culture of tinkering here. So while there are trained engineers etc who are comfortable with handling circuit boards etc, most people are quite intimidated by exposed electronics parts. I don't know if this is the same in other parts of the world ?
My impression is that this intimidation factor is the single biggest obstacle to learning electronics. My first encounter with electronics was with circuit diagrams and current and resistor value calculations. This can be daunting to all but the most determined student. For me, I found it so dry and simply just could not go on and left it for about a decade. It was only when I discovered the wonderful world of Arduino 4 months ago that I really got my hands dirty. And this comes to a person who I think is reasonably technically inclined (I am an architect. No, not the software kind, the bricks and mortar kind).
I got into Arduino because I wanted to build my own home automation system. Now that I have gotten the backbone of my HA system running, I have come to think that it would be an excellent educational tool. This is because simple functions can easily be broken down and demonstrated.
My thoughts is that to remove the intimidation factor, a lesson plan can move from the outside in; meaning the teacher can demonstrate the function (eg. using relay to switch off light), then peel back the skin and reveal the electronics working (eg. remove the relay and show the circuit doesnt work anymore). Later tweaking the programming can be demonstrated, and students introduced to the programming environment / IDE. Lastly circuit can be rebuilt on a circuit board, and students challenged with some creation of their own.
What do you ( and any other reader ) think ?
Keff in Sg