Welcome to the second week of EDTEC 568 - Makerspaces Build Challenge. This week's challenge is to build a simple circuit that includes an LED with a resistor being controlled by a reading from a potentiometer. This circuit uses my Arduino UNO microprocessor to read the potentiometer voltage that will be programmed to cause the LED to blink on for one second, then off for one second, which the Sketch (Arduino for program) converts to a variable used to set the time-delay between on-off digital signals used to activate the LED repeatedly until powered down. This is the basic operation of the build, but the real work is learning to control a digital output using the analog input reading the voltage reading indicating the potentiometer's position/resistance. As always, much circuit and code play ensures resulting in a deeper understanding of electric circuits, coding, and, most importantly, learning through making. To begin, we will take a look at the code I typed into Sketch on the Arduino IDE shown below.
Next, below is an image of my Arduino Uno and the breadboard with blinking LED circuit I built.
Note the black wire connects the ground on the Arduino UNO to the negative bus on the breadboard and the red wire connects the 5V constant power to the positive bus on the breadboard. The output from pin 13 connects to the cathode of the LED on the breadboard. The 220-ohm resistor connects to the anode of the LED and to the negative bus. This circuit is independent from the circuit that connects the potentiometer outer contacts to the positive and negative buses on either side. Finally, the center contact of the potentiometer is connected by the green wire to the A0 analog pin on the Arduino Uno. The circuit diagram for for this is shown below.
The following video shows the Potentiometer project in action and describes the workings of the circuit and the Sketch code uploaded from the Arduino IDE.
If you would like to view the circuit play and code play I performed with this setup, you can find the videos at my YouTube Channel. In thinking about thoughts this time before I started the project, I was eager to get going. I wanted to play and exercise my mind with something different than the daily grind. Although my time was tied up early in the week with teaching related activities, I found myself stealing moments to think about the challenges I had perused early in the week. I would look up a few C++ command codes and functions that I half remembered to make some progress, Like some of my students often do, I found myself getting drawn in and going on tangents that peeked my curiosity. By the time I actually sat down to build and code, I had several ideas in mind to accomplish the tasks. Upon reflection, one thing that really stuck in my mind is how much alike the making challenges are to the discrepant events I use in my Modeling Instruction pedagogy. In both cases, there is no "laying of the ground" or "paving a way" with specific language or directions. The idea is to experience, consider, and pull out the learning; not the other way around by applying what one has already learned. The feeling is fundamentally different and leads to finding what one needs, not looking for where to apply what one knows. Having taught in a version of this mode for over ten years, I know how thrilling and terrifying this approach can be; as a teacher, you never know exactly where your students are going which keeps you on your toes, ready for action. For certain, the process is a bit unstable, but I am not sure deep learning really happens in a completely stable environment. I do know that every interaction with every student is something new and burnout never crosses my mind. For my Extension Challenge, I created two independent LED circuits operated through varying combinations of digital and analog pins controlled by voltage readings from settings on a potentiometer to accomplish various blinking rate combinations and brightness combinations. I found these extensions very informative in refining my understanding of both the Arduino Uno microprocessor capabilities and many nuances of the Sketch coding. As such, I have included below a basic version of the circuits (which has some small variations from extension to extension) and a video describing each extension followed by the code. The basic circuit diagram for the extensions is below.
Extension 1 uses the input from the potentiometer to adjust the rate of two LED's blinking simultaneously at the same rate. The video for Extension 1 is below.
The Sketch Code for Extension 1 is below.
Extension 2 uses the input from the potentiometer to adjust the rate of two LED's blinking simultaneously with one LED at twice the rate of the other LED. The video for Extension 2 is below.
The Sketch Code for Extension 2 is below.
Extension 3 uses the input from the potentiometer to adjust the brightness of two LED's simultaneously to the same level. The video for Extension 3 is below.
The Sketch Code for Extension 3 is below.
Extension 4 uses the input from the potentiometer to adjust the brightness of two LED's simultaneously to different levels, one brighter, the other dimmer, with the exception of one potentiometer setting where the brightness is equal. The video for Extension 4 is below.
The Sketch Code for Extension 4 is embedded in the Extension 3. Simply move the comment back slashes from one analogWrite command for LED11 to the other analogWrite command for LED11..
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