This is a set of components for a portable experiment kit.
The portable experiment kit is actually quite simple and suitable for beginners. It is designed for initial learning, so it does not include servos or temperature and humidity sensors to keep costs low. As a universal maker course, I believe that teaching students the basic principles of the Arduino board and using graphical programming tools like Scratch to teach basic Arduino programming achieves the educational goals.
There is no need to design it too complicated.
These are different colored mini breadboards.
These are various components, including 3mm LED lights that I chose; they are a bit small, and I will use 5mm ones next time.
I purchased the Arduino Uno board from Taobao.
Arduino Nano board, the price will be cheaper if you buy more than 100.
This actually comes from my teaching needs. I currently lead a club at school, teaching Scratch programming and Arduino open-source hardware. As everyone knows, even with school support, purchasing equipment takes quite some time. So, with the help of friends, I first purchased a batch of equipment.
Sometimes economic awareness greatly influences behavior patterns. During my teaching period and my schooling, I realized the lack of resources in schools, and often I hoped to solve many issues with my own skills to save costs for the school. However, this idea might not align with what the leaders expect.
So, I considered configuring my own kit. Many of my students do not have a programming background or basic knowledge of Arduino, so I started with some simple courses.
In fact, even with just a few LEDs, you can create complex programming and effects and combine them with dolls to make interesting projects.
Today, I communicated with our school’s pottery teacher and learned that pottery can not only be made from clay but also from soft clay, which can be heated in a home oven and has good strength. This way, we can use soft clay for some creative designs.
Similar to soft clay, there’s also playdough, ultra-light clay, and even flour can be used, although using flour is a bit… haha.
Since I initially planned to conduct inclusive teaching without the intention of having students compete, I aimed to create fun projects, such as adding LED lights as eyes for dolls, using the principle that the human body can conduct electricity. When we squeeze the doll’s hand, it sings, which is simple but interesting.
I also have a question: if students are genuinely interested, they might buy some components since they are not very expensive.
A friend convinced the homeroom teacher and parents, who were very supportive, providing funding and effort, which greatly reduces the resistance to starting interest groups. Moreover, since Tsinghua University announced that maker activities can qualify for independent enrollment, mastering real skills has begun to stand out. Through continuous learning, children can gain an advantage in this area.
Component list for the kit:
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5 red, green, and blue LEDs
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1 RGB full-color LED
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1 Arduino Nano (or Arduino Uno) compatible version
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1 passive buzzer
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10 female-to-female Dupont wires
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10 male-to-female Dupont wires
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1 photoresistor
After being reminded by Teacher Lv in the group, we actually still need resistors; otherwise, some LEDs, like the red ones, can burn out easily. Everyone can purchase them themselves.
This kit is just a simple assembly of components without design elements included, so it’s very simple. Designing a component list is easy; the challenge lies in the related supporting courses. Fortunately, the maker community presents a good atmosphere of openness and sharing. We can modify community courses appropriately to fit our own kits.
During my visit to the STEAM conference, I saw the interactive programming beginner’s experiment box created by Teacher Wu Junjie and Sheng Si. Honestly, it was impressive, but I don’t know the price. It is very suitable for large class teaching and reduces trouble for teachers. For personal use, you can use cardboard boxes or children’s crawling mats to make your own DIY version for classroom teaching.
After all, creatively solving the problems we encounter is one of the essential skills for makers.
As for the software part, I directly used the Scratch official Scratchx extension solution. You just need to install the Firefox browser plugin, and you can program Arduino directly using Scratch.
Here are some software that will be used for Scratch + Arduino open-source programming: http://pan.baidu.com/s/1qYo4Fr2
The outer packaging used is
Arduino itself is open-source, and the principles of open sharing bring us great convenience. We can even assemble Arduino boards ourselves, but it is very time-consuming.
For maker education, if it is just inclusive, it can have many fun things. If it is for personal use, there are no limits. However, if students want to compete, leaders want results, and currently, many competitions are sponsored by companies that only allow designated hardware, creating barriers.
If we see maker electronics as writing code, using ready-made kits is like using existing software or code libraries, configuring kits ourselves is like writing code from scratch, and making Arduino boards is like programming in assembly language. When we have enough understanding, we can carry out activities from different levels. Integrated experiment boxes encapsulate the code for direct use, hiding the details, but insufficient understanding of the principles; beginners may not need to know the principles, just knowing how it works is enough. However, as they grow older, they still need to understand why.
Sometimes we may underestimate elementary school students. If they are genuinely interested, even if they don’t have spare parts, they can still create their own works. For example, I saw a student in Guangdong who started learning open-source hardware in the third grade and by the fifth grade had made an automatic gas shut-off device for gas leaks, which is quite impressive; he used spare parts. The key is to have continuous systematic training and guidance. However, it is awkward that everyone currently attaches great importance to makers, but provinces that include Scratch or Arduino in information technology textbooks are mostly coastal cities, with Shandong only doing so in Qingdao. If it is not included in the textbooks, it is challenging to guarantee class hours, which is also a difficulty. Although we can speed up the information technology class schedule to conduct Arduino teaching, there is still pressure from exams.
Of course, for elementary schools, there is ample time for club activities, and it is still possible for middle schools. I remember when middle school teachers organized us to participate in subject competitions, it was during lunch and evening self-study; high school is more challenging, as everything is focused on academics, and choosing makers is still a high-risk choice.
I don’t know which competitions allow participation with spare parts; please feel free to leave a message.
For reference only, everyone is welcome to leave messages and suggest improvements.