Welcome! This area is for students and mentors that are participating in the Twin Cities CoderDojo sessions using the Arduino. Please let one of the mentors know if you have feedback that you think will help others.
Our new documentation site is here
Arduino is by far the most popular way to teach beginning digital projects. The Arduino is a free software system built around open an open hardware movement. Arduino microcontrollers are relatively low cost (some as low as $2) and have a large library of open source software. Programming the Arduino reinforces basic computer programming concepts.
We encourage students to bring their own computer. In order for you to get the most out of the class we encourage you to try the following three steps BEFORE you arrive.
Please try to pre-load the Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE).
This free software will run on Windows, Mac and Linux systems. If you are familiar with Eclipse, this is a version of Eclipse that has been extensively customized for the Arduino. The IDE comes pre-loaded with many sample programs. If you have questions about how to use the application please see the Arduino web site. There are also many YouTube videos that show you how the Arduino system work.
We also would like you to pre-load the SparkFun Inventors Kit Code Examples so the student doesn't need to type in the code.
- Download the latest SIK Guide Code (http://sparkfun.com/sikcode)
- Unzip the above file
- Place the "SIK Guide Code" folder in the Arduino IDE "examples" directory:
For PC: drag the "SIK Guide Code" folder into C:\program files\Arduino-x\examples
For MAC: drag the "SIK Guide Code" folder into Arduino-x/Contents/Resource/Java/examples
For Linux: see http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Learning/Linux
- Start the Arduino IDE; the examples should be visible in File/Examples/SIK Guide Code
You are not limited by the labs in the SparkFun Inventors Kit. Feel free to bring your own sensors and displays. We can usually find libraries for most devices and help you integrte these devices into your own projects.
There are two additional sites that we are using to teach computer science concepts that go beyond the SparkFun Inventor Labs:
Moving Rainbow Labs these labs focus on using low-cost colorful displays such as the popular (WS2811B) addressible LED strips (NeoPixels) is a great example of a fun labs that can be used to create programmable wearable devices.
CoderDojo Robots these labs begin with learning how to make motors move forward and backward. Students can then build simple collision avoidance robots.
The mentors will work with you to take you in whatever direction you want to go. We have students that have created projects using LEDs, motors, sound and music.
We currently have ten SparkFun Inventors Kit to introduce our students to the concepts of Physical Computing: making LEDS blink, reading sensors, and driving motors. Although you are not required to follow the SparkFun guidebook we encourage our new students to try these labs out first.
One of the reasons we selected this kit is because it has an excellent free Guidebook which we encourage you to download and familiarize yourself with before you come to class.