Constructing the CIA Teaching Model Based on Arduino Hardware Programming

Abstract

The vigorous development of maker education has greatly encouraged educators to actively engage in research and exploration, and primary and secondary school teachers have also accumulated rich experience. This study uses Arduino hardware as a teaching medium and Mixly software as a platform for teaching practice activities, illustrating how to construct the CIA teaching model based on Arduino hardware programming through the “Automatic Watering Device” lesson, providing effective references for primary and secondary schools to carry out maker education.

Keywords

Arduino; CIA; Teaching Model

Constructing the CIA Teaching Model Based on Arduino Hardware Programming

Research Platform

Arduino open-source hardware can connect various sensors, LED lights, displays, motors, servos, etc. People usually program Arduino hardware using software to monitor the environment, influence the environment, and develop various interactive projects.

Arduino open-source hardware is inexpensive, and the universality of sensors and actuators is strong. As a course medium, it requires low investment and quick entry, which is conducive to creating universal courses and achieving sustainable development. Our school chose Arduino UNO as the medium for hardware programming teaching.

In addition to open-source hardware, Arduino also has an IDE code programming open-source software platform. However, for elementary school students, code-based programming is too professional, so our school chose the Mixly open-source software platform developed by Professor Fu Qian’s team from Beijing Normal University. This software allows programming through block modules, enhancing the visualization and interactivity of programming, making it easy for elementary school students without programming experience to get started. Therefore, programming with Arduino greatly reduces the programming threshold.

Theoretical Support and Overview of the CIA Teaching Model

Educator John Dewey early proposed the “child-centered” and “learning by doing” based pragmatic education theory, with the basic teaching model being “create a situation – identify the problem – gather materials – propose hypotheses – test hypotheses.” Later, educational psychologist Butler proposed the seven elements of teaching and advocated the “seven segments” teaching theory, with the basic teaching model being “set the situation – stimulate motivation – organize teaching – apply new knowledge – test evaluation – consolidate practice – expand and transfer.”

Based on this, the author conducted localized adjustments according to the practical needs of Arduino hardware programming and constructed the “six-segment double-loop” CIA teaching model, whose core is imitation, innovation, and assessment, with a theoretical foundation in constructivism. Constructivism posits that for learners to complete the construction of meaning for the knowledge they have learned, achieving a deep understanding of the nature, laws, and connections of the things reflected by that knowledge, the best way is to allow learners to experience and feel in the real environment of the real world (i.e., learning through direct experience), rather than just listening to others (such as teachers) introduce and explain such experiences.

By comprehensively analyzing Dewey’s “learning by doing,” Butler’s “seven segments” teaching theory, and constructivist theory, the author has derived the complete overview of the “six-segment double-loop” CIA teaching model through practical research: The first segment, create a situation (set the situation), increase interest, and “introduce situational stories”; The second segment, gradually identify the problem and be driven by the problem to stimulate research motivation, “state knowledge points”; The third segment, gather materials, organize teaching, and conduct “imitation”; The fourth segment, propose hypotheses, apply new knowledge, and form “innovation”; The fifth segment, test hypotheses, conduct evaluations, emphasizing objectivity and student-centered development, i.e., “assess”; The sixth segment, combine consolidation practice, expansion, and transfer into “extend.” In addition, two essential links are added—”group cooperation” and “team sharing,” which form the “double-loop” (see Figure 1).

Figure 1 The “Six-Segment Double-Loop” CIA Teaching Model

Classroom Practice

The author uses the lesson “Automatic Watering Device” as an example to illustrate the “six-segment double-loop” CIA teaching model constructed based on Arduino hardware programming in our school.

1. The “Six Segments” in the CIA Teaching Model

(1) Introduce situational stories

The teacher can pose a question: During the holidays, many people choose to travel, but if they are away for too long, the plants at home will be left without water and may die. What solutions do you think of to solve this problem?

Using an open-ended approach to stimulate thinking, allowing students to brainstorm and then converge their thoughts to focus on the best solution. If a student mentions that it would be great to have an electronic product that waters plants automatically in a smart classroom; if not, the teacher needs to provide more prompts.

(2) State knowledge points

Once the problem to be solved is determined, the teacher must consider from the students’ perspective what support is needed to complete this project and what knowledge must be learned; otherwise, the subsequent classroom practice activities will face many obstacles. For example, in this case, the teacher will list the equipment needed: 1 Arduino UNO development board, 1 Arduino UNO expansion board, 1 USB data cable, 12 Dupont wires, 1 soil moisture sensor, 1 water pump, 1 relay, and 1 sound sensor. Some electronic components may not have been used before, so only the hardware points need to be stated.

(3) Imitation

The teacher demonstrates how to connect the hardware, allowing students to imitate and grasp the underlying principles. In this example, the soil moisture sensor’s A0 is connected to the main board’s A0, and the sensor’s G and V are connected to the main board’s G and V respectively; the relay’s IN pin is connected to D8, with G and V connected to the development board’s G and V pins; the small water pump is connected to the relay’s COM and NO outputs, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 Automatic Watering Device Wiring Connection

Of course, since the power interface is sufficient, an expansion board may not be necessary, and the hardware can be built directly.

After the hardware is assembled, first measure the humidity value of the soil moisture sensor in the moist potting soil, which is around 329; in the dry potting soil, the humidity value is around 650.

Set a soil moisture value that should trigger watering (for example, 650 in this case). The program is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3 Soil Moisture Automatic Watering Device Program

If there are other types of plants, they should all be tested, and the humidity values can be adjusted based on the serial port return values.

Select the appropriate development board type and correct serial port, upload the program to the Arduino UNO development board. Test whether the water pump starts watering when the soil is dry; and stops watering when the soil is moist. If it does not work, find the cause and try to resolve it. Once resolved, apply it to the actual scenario, as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4 Automatic Watering Device Application Scene

(4) Innovation

① Reverse Thinking – Creatively Solving Problems

The teacher observes the students’ expressions, listens to their words, and even their murmurs, looking for the right moment to guide: if the soil is dry, it needs automatic watering; conversely, if the small garden ditch accumulates too much water due to rain, can it be pumped out?

At this time, the teacher must give students enough time to think and try to let them come up with answers independently to reflect the application of reverse thinking to solve problems. Specifically, first take the soil moisture sensor out of the pot and place it in the small garden ditch; then take the water pump out of the cup and also place it in the small garden ditch; next, take the water pipe out of the plant’s roots and put it into the cup, test the serial port return values, and adjust to suitable parameters; finally, change the “greater than” condition in the program logic to “less than,” completing the programming.

② Changing Materials – Practically Solving Problems

The teacher asks students to connect real life and find other fields where the water pump can be used. Many students like musical fountains; can they use the water pump combined with a sound sensor to create a musical fountain themselves? Gradually guide students to understand: they can replace the soil moisture sensor in the above hardware with a sound sensor, test the serial port return values, and adjust to suitable threshold parameters to complete the programming. The wiring diagram for the musical fountain is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5 Musical Fountain Wiring Diagram

③ Adding Materials – Comprehensive Problem Solving

Guide students to think from real-life situations: when the temperature is too high, watering plants is not advisable. Can we consider watering only when the temperature is appropriate?

The teacher adds a temperature and humidity sensor, prompting everyone to consider combining the soil moisture sensor with the temperature and humidity sensor. Under the dual conditions of dry soil and suitable temperature (note the logical statements used in programming), the water pump can be activated to complete the watering. The device connection is shown in Figure 6, and the device program is shown in Figure 7.

Figure 6 Temperature and Humidity Intelligent Watering Device Wiring Diagram

Figure 7 Temperature and Humidity Intelligent Watering Device Program

(5) Assessment

Through this example, students learn through the teacher’s explanation of knowledge points, practice connecting hardware, first imitate and then innovate, therefore the focus of assessment is: First, imitate the hardware assembly, such as the correspondence of the wiring, the relationship of digital simulation, etc.; Second, imitate the programming, such as monitoring the serial port, using conditional judgment statements, etc.; Third, imitate the construction of the automatic watering device using the soil moisture sensor combined with the water pump, etc. This process can teach students intelligent management of plants and lay the foundation for learning about the Internet of Things.

(6) Expansion

Guide students to expand their thinking in conjunction with real life. For example, through research, they find that forest fires can cause tremendous losses to national resources. As the exploration deepens, students discover: forest fires are a global problem, with an average of over 200,000 forest fires occurring globally each year, burning an area of forest that accounts for more than 1‰ of the total forest area worldwide. Next, let students research and learn about the principles and usage of flame sensors, placing them in front of a robot car to monitor small flames that are in the germination stage. Program the robot car to walk along a line, and once a flame is detected, immediately activate the water pump to spray water on the flame to extinguish it in a timely manner.

Seemingly simple content can enable students to engage in deep learning, continuously exploring, testing, modifying, optimizing, and iterating.

2. The “Double Loop” in the CIA Teaching Model

The advancement of the above “six segments” is inseparable from cooperation and sharing, this “double loop”.

(1) Cooperation – Group Cooperation

Since hardware programming involves circuit construction, programming, and design, independent production often poses difficulties. However, during group cooperation, through the joint efforts with peers, proposing problems, determining goals, formulating plans, collecting information, analyzing and processing, and finding answers or conclusions closely resembles the situation of scientists conducting scientific research, allowing students to gain relevant experiences in scientific research. Therefore, the author specifically arranges four students per set of equipment to ensure heterogeneity within groups and homogeneity between groups. Group members must help each other and work together to achieve goals to earn corresponding scores. Cooperation within groups and competition between groups can stimulate the team’s effort to achieve the highest score.

(2) Sharing – Team Sharing

Team sharing means that all members of the team take the Arduino development board to the podium to report to everyone, giving a speech while demonstrating their results, accepting questions and defending their work. In terms of team building, sharing facilitates the collision of ideas and knowledge sharing, avoiding information blockage, and each member will gain improvement; in terms of personal growth, sharing is beneficial for promoting independent thinking, learning collaboration, discovering problems, verifying problems, summarizing reflections, and more.

For example, in this case, a student showed deeper thinking during the sharing: “Our team learned through research that first, the global forest fire early warning system considers factors such as temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and terrain adequately, but lacks consideration of the time and spatial variation of combustible materials; second, the existing forest wildfire risk warning lacks consideration of the multi-dimensional characteristics of the causes of ignition; finally, micro-meteorological monitoring and communication equipment for prevention and control are very important. After a fire burns, the terrain will affect local wind speed and direction, so the issues of high-precision meteorological monitoring and communication signal bases in local areas also urgently need to be resolved.”

Conclusion

Through the practice of the “six-segment double-loop” CIA teaching model constructed based on Arduino hardware programming, it can be seen that a seed for solving world problems has been planted in the classroom, just waiting for it to bloom, allowing each student to gradually develop scientific research thinking and learn to handle complex interpersonal relationships, thus becoming a versatile innovative talent.

Constructing the CIA Teaching Model Based on Arduino Hardware Programming

Welcome to Subscribe to the Journal “China Modern Educational Equipment”!

References

[1] Huang Fuquan, Wang Benlu. Modern Teaching Theory Course [M]. Beijing: Education Science Press, 1998:336.

[2] Yu Wensen, Liu Jiafang, Hong Ming. Basic Course on Modern Teaching Theory [M]. Jilin: Northeast Normal University Press, 2007:173-174.

[3] Bing Jie. Conducting STEM Education in Elementary Schools with Arduino [J]. China Ethnic Education Journal, 2018(8):57-58.

[4] Chen Xuesong, Bing Jie. Arduino Maker [M]. Chengdu: Sichuan Electronic Audio-Visual Press, 2020:110-114.

[5] Zhang Xiaorong, Bing Jie. Practice and Innovation – STEM Curriculum for Primary and Secondary Schools Grade Five [M]. Chengdu: Sichuan Electronic Audio-Visual Press, 2020:2-12.

Related posts

Leave a Comment Cancel reply