[IAEP] [support-gang] What Sensors and Where To Buy?

[Kevin Mark]

--- On Sat, 9/22/12, Caryl Bigenho <cbigenho at hotmail.com> wrote:

From: Caryl Bigenho <cbigenho at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [support-gang] What Sensors and Where To Buy?
To: "Community Support Volunteers -- who help respond t" <support-gang at lists.laptop.org>, "IAEP SugarLabs" <iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org>
Date: Saturday, September 22, 2012, 1:26 AM





Hey Guys... 
Don't loose sight of the fact that learning electronics is not necessarily  the main goal here. I think that, most of the time, the sensors will be used for measuring things in science experiments... physics, chemistry, even biology and health science. 
Oh, I think I and others might have given the wrong impression. I was just trying to figure out what parts were useful and how they'd be built FOR the teacher. With the goal to not expect the teacher or the students to build any of the sensors. If the students are a bit older, then making an sensor might be cool. But our 'geeking out' about the technical bits might have seems like we were moving in a different direction.
So, yeah, the main thing is to have sensors and for the teacher to have some material that they are using it with. Most of the more basic sensors are composed of:1 audio connector, 1 bit of audio wire, 1 resistor and one 'sensor. So the cost would not be very high. But getting bulk parts vs getting 2 made will affect the price a lot (economies of scale). LEDs can cost 1 $ if you buy them 1 at a time but 10 cents if you buy them in 100 packs.


I spent this evening with the young science teacher who will be using the XOs at the CP project here in Montana. He is very excited about the possibility of using them in his middle school science classes. I showed him some of the things Trinidad Guzman has on YouTube and we came up with a lot of ideas for possible lessons. He thought he might actually do the building of the sensors himself. The electronics aspect isn't the main lesson here, the science experiments they are used in will be.
You guys have provided lots of great links and resources which I am sharing with him. Money is an issue. Montana schools are not well funded (what public school is these days?). He will do what he can with the funds he can scrape up. 
Maybe making inexpensive kits of parts and instructions for sensors along with lesson ideas would be a good project for SF?
Caryl
P.S. He is really into using open source... actually so is his wife, who just had all of her schedule changed to music (K-8). 

> Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2012 14:23:14 +1000
> From: quozl at laptop.org
> To: support-gang at lists.laptop.org
> Subject: Re: [support-gang] What Sensors and Where To Buy?
> 
> On Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 07:35:13PM -0700, Kevin Mark wrote:
> > What your explanation makes clear is why people typically pay 3rd
> > parties to develop educational material with pre-tested sample
> > circuits and included parts. The average teacher will not have the
> > expertise to just find a sensor, make a circuit, connect it, use
> > software like measure and explain what the output means.
> 
> I don't think teachers are as unskilled as you seem to suggest.
> Teachers can only teach what they know, and knowing this level of
> electronics is about as complex as knowing macrame.
> 
> A syllabus might not contain electronics, and so a teacher's support
> systems may be naive to electronics.
> 
> That's where lesson plans and materials can be useful, for a teacher
> who wants to go the extra mile beyond their syllabus.
> 
> > I assume if a packet was constructed for the basic concepts for Ohms
> > law and the basic understanding of how the sensor fits-into this
> > Electronics equation, then they could present a lesson with a
> > packaged electronics kit with audio-plug w/sensor bits. Maybe the
> > XOexplosion/ilovemyxo or PlanCeibal/Butiabot people or whoever could
> > mass-buy such parts and constructs these kits and create the
> > teaching material(wiki?).
> 
> I expect these already exist somewhere.  The Using_Turtle_Art_Sensors
> page referenced earlier in the thread is a good example that focuses
> on Turtle Art, with some OLPC XO guidance as well.
> 
> Perhaps a more appropriate subject area is Physics rather than
> Electronics.
> 
> > 
> > LDRs, IR LED, flex sensor and other cheap parts if ordered in bulk I
> > would imagine could be bought for a relatively cheaper cost compared
> > to Radioshack-type stores. And if the purchase is made by a
> > geographically closer group, that would limit the shipping cost.
> 
> Agreed.  For any education system where electronics is in syllabus,
> there are ample opportunities for bulk purchasing.
> 
> > Just my reaction to your great explanation of how those bits could
> > be used.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> -- 
> James Cameron
> http://quozl.linux.org.au/
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