STEM Club Studies Circuits and Coding with Audrino

By Kara Pezzi, STEM Coordinator and Faculty
Vermont Academy’s STEM Club meets on Fridays to explore and have fun with science, technology, engineering, and math. During the month of January, we learned about circuits and coding using Arduino hardware and software.
At our first meeting, students learned the basics of circuity by exploring the Arduino breadboard, LEDs (light emitting diodes), and switches in series and parallel circuits. During the second meeting, students learned how to use Arduino software to write a code that lit up various LEDs when the switch was pressed. By modifying the code, students were able to change the pattern of blinking lights. At our final meeting, we learned how to incorporate a temperature sensor into the circuit and code to control the lights with the heat from our hands.

STEM club also enjoyed the screening of Hidden Figures to complement our foray into the world of computer science. According to the American Institute of Physics, before electronic computers, the term “computers” referred to people rather than machines. “Computers” performed complex mathematical calculations by hand, either by themselves or in a group called “computing offices” or “computer pools.” Dinner and discussion followed!

Computer programming, or coding, is just one use of a broad set of skills called computational thinking (CT). CT involves breaking a problem into smaller chunks, recognizing patterns or trends, writing instructions to perform a task, and generalizing patterns and trends into rules and principles. VA’s Ninth Grade Arts course, “Arduino in Art,” was developed and implemented this fall to provide all ninth grade students with an introduction on how to use computer programming to create art, to show how art is an integral part of STEM, and to show students that computer programming is something that can be learned and enjoyed by all students.
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Vermont Academy is a coed college preparatory boarding and day school in southern Vermont, serving grades 9-12 plus a postgraduate year.