This document provides an introduction to using Arduino microcontrollers for educational purposes. It begins with introductions among attendees. It then discusses SparkFun's focus on open source hardware and physical computing. The document provides an overview of Arduino microcontrollers and their capabilities. It walks through setting up the Arduino IDE and demonstrates some basic code examples, including blinking an LED and reading sensor input. Questions are posed to encourage experimentation. Additional educational resources from SparkFun are mentioned at the end.

1. http://sfe.io/r72
Jeff Branson
Education Outreach Coordinator
Email: jeff.branson@sparkfun.com
Derek Runberg
Curriculum Curator
Email: derek.runberg@sparkfun.com
@sparkfun #nsta14

2. Pause…
Before we move any further, let’s make sure that
we all know each other in this room?
Please introduce yourself to the person(s) sitting in
your general vicinity. Tell them a few things about
yourself, maybe:
– where you’re from
– what you teach
– why you’re here
– what you hope to get out of this….

3. About Us
At SparkFun, our focus is all about creation,
innovation, and sharing information.
Open Source Hardware is at the core of our
business. We emphasize researching, re-
mixing, adapting, making improvements, and
sharing with the world!

7. “ Teacher s t hat make…
Make gr eat t eacher s”
-Anonymous

8. Arduino / Microcontrollers
a.k.a. Physical Computing
“Arduino is a tool for making computers that
can sense and control more of the physical
world than your desktop computer.”
A micro-controller is essentially a brain – or,
think of a bunch of programmable “elves…”
It is the guts of something like Vernier, Pasco, or
Fourier

9. What can this thing do?
Remember, think programmable “elves”
We can use this to:
- Turn on lights
- Interface cameras (take photos)
- Log sensor data (temp, pressure, humidity, light…)
- Communicate with your PC and the internet
(a.k.a. Internet of Things)
- Take Science Fair to the next level…

10. How it works?
01010011 01110000 01100001 01110010 01101011
01000110 01110101 01101110
SERIAL DATA @ 9600 baud

11. Hardware Configurations /
Connections
What’s a Pin?
14 general digital input / output pins
6 analog input pins (Pins A0 – A5)
Nitty Gritty:
Powered off anything from 7 – 15V DC
Voltage Regulator provides 5V and 3.3V
Standard TTL logic – 5V is HIGH, and 0V is LOW.

12. Getting started
• Download Arduino from:
www.arduino.cc/download
• Follow their directions on installation.

13. Startup Arduino IDE
• Double-click on either
the Arduino Icon or
wherever you installed
(saved) the Arduino
program.

14. Plug in your RedBoard (Arduino)

15. Lesson #0 – Setting up Arduino
1.Setup Board
–Arduino Uno
1.Setup COM Port
–PC – Highest COM #
–Mac – /dev/tty.usbserial-A####xXx

16. Tools  Board  Arduino Uno
Setup Board

17. Tools  Serial Port
Setup COM Port
PC –
Highest COM #
Mac –
/dev/tty.usbserial-
A####xxx

18. Anatomy of code
General syntax:
– Case-sensitive
– Semi-colons
– Curly-brackets
void functionName()

19. Just the basics
Turning an LED on and off…

20. Open Challenges
1) Create a heartbeat – a realistic one!
2) What is the fastest blink that your eye can
detect? What is the frequency of this blink?
Now, move the LED back and forth – do you see a
“trail”? What are some interesting scientific
investigations you can explore with this?
1) What about making a timer?? – blink the LED
for 10 seconds and then stop!
2) What other ideas?

21. Introducing the Danger Shield
What’s a Shield?

22. Sensing – Slider – AnalogRead(A0)

23. Serial Monitor
01010011 01110000 01100001 01110010 01101011
01000110 01110101 01101110
SERIAL DATA @ 9600 baud

24. Sensing – Light – AnalogRead(A3)

25. Sensing – Temp – AnalogRead(A4)
This sensor: TMP36 has a sensitivity of 10 mV / °C =
100°C / V and is 750 mV at 25 °C.

26. Converting between ADC value to
voltage?

27. Pre-created example programs

28. Preview of Digital SandBox
Slider / PotentiometerSwitch
Motor /
Speaker Out
Push Button
Microphone
Light Sensor
Temp Sensor
LED Array
RGB LED
Arduino

29. Now what?
• Interested in professional development? Want to
learn more?
– Check-out our SparkFun Inventor’s Kit (SIK)
– Also sold as a lab-pack for schools
– 15 complete circuits with a full-color experiment guide.
– Guide is available as a PDF.
• Teacher Prof. Dev Workshops available:
– Contact: education@sparkfun.com

30. Questions?
email: jeff.branson@sparkfun.com
twitter: @sparkfun
Interested in any of this?
E-mail us about our 20% educator discount –
education@sparkfun.com