Day 1

REFLECTION

This was a great way to 'kick start' the project. Not only did we begin to become acquainted with this Pi and it's OS, but we also began to learn some very basic coding in Python by modifying variables in some code in order to light LED'S (on a 'breadboard').

This also served as a great introduction to the GPIO pins.

Some great connections and contacts were made and we also discovered the amazing depth of resources that could be found in the MagPi publication.

We were also introduced to the resource site that LEARN had put together for the Raspberry Pi.

By the end of the day all team members had grown in both confidence and awareness and were enthusiastic to start trying some experiments with the Pi in the science lab.

Michael Quinn

REFLECTION

Today I had pleasure of working with the ‘Raspberry Pi”.

I worked on two experiments called ‘keeping baby warm’ and 'investigating stopping distances of car. For the first experiment, we had to measure the temperature of a water bottle. However, we had the difficulties putting the sensor of the HAT in the right place. Beside finding the location of the sensor, everything worked well. For the second experiment, we could not proceed further until we changed our program from python 2 to python 3. Also, it was frustrating to start over again every time we made a mistake. However, once we knew what we were doing, we got the data we wanted and we could draw the graph using the spreadsheet.

It was my pleasure getting introduced to "Raspberry Pi" for the first time and I look forward to working with this program in the future.

Hayoung Ahn

REFLECTION

I worked on the reaction rates experiment. The experiment initially asked us to press the enter key to start the experiment and then again when the x disappeared from view. The group thought it would be a good hack if we could have the camera decide for us when the image disappeared (removing the human element). I found documentation online for the picamera and adapted the code given to us for the basic experiment so that the camera would act as my finger pressing the button.

I expected the camera to detect less light as the precipitate formed but the opposite happened. the light was more easily diffused through the solution and the camera detected more light. I had to adjust the could one more time to make it work.

I learned that coding the machine can be difficult if one has little experience looking for help. However, once we get working code, it can easily be shared with colleagues and deployed in the class.

I can foresee students enjoying the novelty of the device but that this interest may not last last. I suspect the interest may persist if we challenge them to come up with the code or to modify code (hack the device).

Samuel Altarac

REFLECTION

Ian Ritchie: During the workshop I setup and ran the experiment on Black and Silver cans. The HATSensor was attached to the top of the Raspberri PI and the unit had a high starting temperature (32 degrees) compared to the in-class lab which would have started at about 21 degrees. Once we figured out that all entered data for names need to in parenthesises the program ran well. I could see this being a good starting program and lab for Secondary 1 or 2. The only draw back was the slight temperature fluctuations due to the fact that the sensor hat was in direct contact with the PI, in a future test it would be good to try with a cable to separate the sensor from the PI. After we got our data we were able to import and show that the students could use LibreOffice to graph their data and show their data easily. Once they have done this they can send their results by Email to the teacher. No need for the PI machines to have Microsoft office or a separate machine to use excel. A great day of experimenting and learning and application of PI in a school environment.

Ian Ritchie

REFLECTION

I had the chance to work on the raspberry pi.

Performed the insulation exp. Did not have a ribbon with a male and female end to connect the sense hat so I had to run the program directly off the pi.

I also found that my readings would greatly change depending on the placement of the sensor. We had to troubleshoot the best way to collect the data and came to the conclusion that libre office worked best. Also once on excel we needed to use a Canada French keyboard.

Second experiment that I had the chance to do was the reaction time. The program was set on python 2 however needs to run on python 3. Once we figured that out the experiment works great.

Greg Boldireff