Picaxe introduction approach in a school: recommendations?

Dear forum members

Since I like the combination of an electronics hobby and social interaction and I think that the Picaxe is an excellent vehicle for important modern technology exposure in schools, I am trying to introduce the Picaxe in my middle son's school here in Sweden. This school serves children aged between 6 and 15 years old. For this discussion the age interval of 13 - 15 years is most relevant and this interval corresponds in the Swedish school system to year 7 - 9.

In order to get the school interested I have put quite some effort in preparation. In the beginning of this year I gave a presentation to an audience of physics, maths and handcraft teachers as well as the director of this particular school about three projects I somehow have been envolved with togeheter with my oldest son (PongSat near-space experiments, water rockets and of course as the main dish the Picaxe concept). At school we also discussed pedagogical issues regarding the shift in technology from component-based simple ciruits towards electronic applications that sense and react upon their environment. I showed them Andrew Hornblow's website with various illustrations on possible projects for children ( http://picasaweb.google.com/picaxe )

As a subsequent step I had invited 7 teachers and the director last week at my home for an evening with practical experiments on two laptops, with support from my son as my second pair of hands. Almost all of the invited had seen my earlier presentation at school, and again the audience was a combination of physics and handcraft teachers. I prepared a presentation that explaines the microcontroller and Picaxe concepts as well as several examples, and I included a number of very simple programs that they could adapt on the fly (I used the AXE092 schools experimenter boards which I regard as perfect for both direct use as well as extendability). We also discussed pedagogical approaches regarding projects and implementation in a classroom. This evening became a big success since all invited actually showed up, they worked very actively with the program examples obviously having a lot of fun (and some interesting competition between the two groups emerged). At the end of the meeting some were publicly contemplating on a study day to get more grip on the technology.

As a consequence I have the feeling that we are in a very good shape to get the whole project to fly at this school. That then brings up the question on how to proceed. I will outline the ideas and approach that I plan to take, and I hope to get some feedback regarding feasibility, problems to expect, recommendations, own experiences on similar cases etc etc. Any comments are welcome!

As a prerequisite to a successful continuation I regard the following items:

1. "Ownership at school" where at least two but preferrably three teachers are taking the lead and get working and prototyping by themselves
2. Projects that integrate handicraft, electronics and children's own ideas.
3. Planning on what kind of milestones may be achieved. I am thinking of a special limited project in 2011 with a few students that show interest (and of which the teachers think as proper candidates), and a class-project in 2013, maybe 2012. No haste in this matter, since the school first needs to develop a technical knowledge base themselves as well as an idea on how this approach fits well into their daily process
4. A plan that describes in steps the integration of this approach in the curricculum, including resources needed
5. Easy accessible technical support. I can help them by participating in the study day, by actively involving myself in the more pedagogical questions and process issues (see also the very enlightening article on introduction of microcontrollers in Finnish schools ( http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/v18n2/pdf/jarvinen.pdf ) that is publicly accessible), and by setting up a small forum on my personal website (Joomla should easily facilitate that) that gives easy access to introductory information and quick response possibilities for questions.
6. The school my try to find special financing support for this kind of new curricculum developments

Would these be the main elements in a successful approach?

PS: This all looks very nice but there are always certain boundary conditions regarding school situation and curriculum that I will explain here. Contrary to most other school systems the Swedish school system does not fundamentally differentiate before age 16. The children get a first, short introduction in electronics theory in year 7 (age 13); as I get it from the physics teachers this basically covers theory (but very little practice) regarding current, voltage and resistances (Ohm's law, series and parallel connections). In year 9 some electronics enters again (now with a more practical focus) but the schools are extremely constrained regarding resources and in this school's case most of the practical material does not function. The school does not have the experimental prototyping boards as we are used to on this forum.

Best regards
Jurjen

First off, I would like to aplaud you for your efforts. This is exactly what is needed to get young students interested in electronics and how to see the benefits of such a career.

I have done several school sessions myself in the UK.
I was very fortunate that the schools approached me and also very fortunate that the BBC was running several programs to support the government's "science week", so funding was also available.

The topic was "Robotics Masterclass".
After discussions with several school 'heads', it was decided that there should be several "must achieve" criteria.

1. Each student must produce and be able to take home a robot.
2. The robot must have a purpose (objective)
3. The robot must be autonomous.
4. It must be within the limited budget.

Naturally, item 4 was the biggest challenge.
This is where PICAXE came to the rescue.
I was originally given a budget of £10/student but after a demonstration and much pleading, I got that increased by a few £'s.

My advice is, make sure you really can get good dedication from the teachers involved. At the schools where this was the case, the projects ran really smoothly, attendance was high and even the local papers got involved.

One school gave me the impression that were only taking part because they had been told to. This one was a lot of hard work, not very satisfying and about half the students dropped out. This just goes to prove that enthusiasm needs to be driven from the top down.

Although I was actually paid to give these courses, it was only for the first two introductory lessons. Having said that, I found it so personally rewarding that I gave the rest of the course for free. (with one exception).

Excellent I was thinking about this recently for our local school where my boy goes. He has a real interest and aptitude for electronics and has one of the Cambridge Brainbox electronics kits suitable for 8-12yr olds and builds the circuits in the book with accuracy and precision, and makes sure that the power switch is off while construction and checking is going on!

We have added microswitches to make burglar alarms for his room - he is only just 6 - ahem - maybe I am a few years too early...

I wish you every success and encouragement in your endeavours.

E.

Kudos kranenborg and good luck; i wish i was old enough to do the same in my region.

Good work mate

As an educator and hobist - i think that the best approach in schools is engaging students from a hobbist view point. Not all the students are going to be electronic engineers..

A good start for the teachers to introduce picaxe in the schools is to use the SEB and the set of articles from silicon chip from australia - they were writen by clive (i think) and cover all introductory aspects to the picaxe and some basic electronics.

The next step is the hook (the project), like Beenie you need to make it cheep and take homeable. To help I will give a run down of our school curriculum:

1) year 8 (13yo) - intro to electronic and electricity - circuit diagrams, series / parallel and some times hint at ohms law - I then do 3 weeks on soldering, picaxe programming (Schools Experimenter Board) nd the students can choose to purchase, build and take home there own if they like. At this stage no projects
2) year 9 (14yo) - develop their own circuit (touch game), etch and solder. They do some basic breadboarding around the 555 timer and associated circuits. We then extend the SEB onto a bread board to control motors etc. some small project using some robots developed at school.
3)year 10 (15yo) - we run a program called concpt 2 creation. the students develop there own concept and take it to creation - using the picaxe as the brain mostly.
4)year 11 physics - we build and fly UAVs - these involve gathering data from the plane - done with the picaxe

wll add more information and beetter explanations later - go to get back to work.

thanks
richard

Apparently I'm guilty of a fair swag of PICAXE promotion down under, & predictably hence go along with such educational ideas. Although near infamous for my breadboard circuits, these are far too fiddly for most youngsters,many of whom can not strip wires or insert components correctly. They all love soldering of course, but burns/fire hazards/Health & Safety/ and of course initially clunky soldering & damaged components make that a skill to be mastered in it's own right- with PROPER facilities.

Instead ~pre teens & the less experienced seem to better respond to "Snap" approaches. I once (argh- 2005!) penned a few thoughts about a possible 10 stage "key commands" 08M scheme based around these, modifying the sound module to suit (see attached). US firm Elinco ran with the approach in fact, but at ~US$130 their SCM-450 PICAXE based micro kit was a tad overpriced IMHO... I last expanded on "snap" benefits about ~2009 in fact -

My own humble "#8 wire" Snap conversion (now further enhanced to also offer Pin0),comes in ~an order of magnitude cheaper than Elenco's however. Dick Smith has stopped selling these "Brain Box" kits here in NZ, but many other outlets stock them, with the most basic 80 experiment version retailing for ~US$15. The sound module is a tad fiddly to convert -thankfully short sightedness blesses me with A1 macro vision- but once PICAXEd they've shown themselves VERY popular with Kiwi pre-teens. Seeing 10-12 yo. kids investigating the likes of stepper motor actions, data logging, POV,reaction times & Hellschreiber etc with them is very satisfying indeed!

As global tech. educators may no doubt verify, small electronic parts WILL get lost/dropped/abused by kids,and clunky wiring & layouts are sadly often the norm unless somehow structured. Appealingly colourful parts and nifty "snaps" make overall management with these kits far less agonising for the educators as well.

The learning experience is meant to be about state of the art microcontroller based electronics of course, rather than wire stripping using your teeth, crawling round on the floor looking for near invisible white LEDs, fighting your bench mates for a turn with the best soldering iron or abandoning fiddly circuitry when the bell goes etc . All of these can be normal classroom situations unless careful planning has been put in.

Click to expand...

But it's not enough to be an enthusiastic promotor & educator, as amongst issues that arise are admin./parental views that "it may be fun - but there's no real money now in electronic careers for most youngsters", & of course this is very realistic. Facilities,funding & resources may be accordingly so thin that you may end up sponsoring sessions yourself - I worked with one preteen group (totalling 200 students in 2 hour slots over 6 sessions) that allowed US$2 a head for EVERYTHING, including take home projects. Yes- the total budget was US$400 for some 200x2x6=2400 student hours (& thus ~16 cents a head per hour...). Although they paid my delivery time,absolutely no further funding developed-in spite of pleading. I only managed by scrounging/coin shops/hacking solar garden & xmas tree lamps & bringing/donating most of my own gear. The same school had no trouble sending a sporting/cultural group to Japan for a fortnight however...

At senior level of course increasingly super tight school curriculums & demanding academic entry may mean a focus on "hard" subjects (chem/maths/physics) that really count when trying to win a decent university place...

FWIW-I'm presently conducting a polytech level project course here that involves students (most in their 20s) seconded from the NZ Army, & their self directed zeal for PICAXEing projects (including SMD) has been astounding. Knowing this will no doubt mean you'll rest a good deal easier in your beds at night. Stan.

I am very thankful for the many reactions here. These give me the impression that I am heading in the right direction with my initial ideas, but that a number of other conditions need to be satisfied as well. I will address these by a careful planning of the study day, in which I will take up the following issues that I had not thought of:

1) Discuss how to implement a take-home project, because I think the take-home aspect as has been brought up here is important, at least in the higher age levels with real projects. The AXE092 experimenter board approach may show to be too expensive for that (although it would be an excellent vehicle for further exploration for those that have gotten really interested and want to experiment further at home. Maybe buying at a materials cost price would be a possible option in those cases). In that case soldering on standard stripboard comes into view as a somewhat cheaper option, but as manuka indicated a number of conditions need to be met for which additional classroom time and resources are needed. The best option may be to use a "snap"-type approach for the whole class in year seven, and have a special choice option (for a limited number of interested students) that includes an introduction in soldering as well as a realization of the final take-home project.

2) Support, support and even more support for the teachers involved to keep the fire burning ... . Manuka's approach with an introductory 10-command shortlist as well as a forum with a proper set of introductory articles, examples etc. sounds very attractive to me as a way to make it all happen.

3) Having funding readily available. The Swedish economy is still essentially a high-tech engineering economy with a large number of professional engineering organisations of all kinds, at least when comparing to typical Western-European service-oriented economies like the Netherlands (my home country before Sweden) so that makes me think that a number of willing funding sources must be available. Here some publication on the inital stages on my school this year in an engineering magazine may actually help in generating more funding.

4) Although I like the robot-type ideas I have the feeling that this is currently out of reach, both regarding cost and background knowledge level. For the moment I am aiming for the kind of applications as shown on the earlier-mentioned website by Andrew Hornblow (but extensions towards robotics is always possible)

I am lucky to work in a company (ABB - Corporate Research, power transformers) that is doing some real engineering work on a large scale with a large number of people that are often genuinly interested in technology and technology education as well (many of them have worked as a youngster with the Philips EE kits ( www.kranenborg.org/ee ) that I have reported on this forum earlier). When I told about my plans and experiences at lunchtime we immediately went to discuss to introduce this approach in other places as well

I will now propose a setup of the study day to my middle son's school, I will report back on the results. In the mean time any other suggestions etc. are most welcome.

Regards,
Jurjen

Jurjen: Are "snap" kits available in Sweden? Conversion is straight forward enough - check this Instructable

I'll offer to send you one of my PICAXEd modules for trials- send me a Volvo in return perhaps. Stan.

Just a couple of comments from personal observation:

First) Sometimes kids pick projects that are simply way beyond their abilities. If that's the case - don't try to help them along with it so much as try to help them redirect toward something they are more capable of but would still be happy with. Identifying both what they'd like to do and what can also be done reasonably successfully are key issues to resolve.

Second) Try to not have so much "stuff" around that it appears overwhelming to some children. While it can be fun to show the kids just how much a PICAXE can do - still it can easily overwhelm some school children. Bite-sized portions are best until you learn the appetite of each child.

I provided a 14 year-old boy with a "complete" PICAXE project package - consisting of everything from an assortment of hand tools and multimeter to varieties of resistors - LEDs - capacitors - sensors - motors - beepers - proto-bds - PICAXE chips - LCD and interface - power supplies - all 3 PICAXE manuals printed out - etc. (It was quite a large box.)

He looked at it all and immediately gave up on it as simply too much to grasp. He said it "blew his mind." End of story.

John,

guess you picked the wrong boy. If you had given it to me when I was 14 years old (a while back, that is I'd have spent the next few weeks in my room trying out every single piece of it, and destroying a few things along the way because I didn't read the manuals end-to-end...

Wolfgang

My favoured project is the traffic light; something everyone in most countries should be able to associate with so it isn't an abstract project. The Schools Experimenter PCB ( AXE092 and AXE092K ) is well suited to that and there are other options.

Never had electronics offered when I was at school but from attending courses on using development system hardware etc I think that should fit a one or two day course for people who 'know nothing' to start with given an amount of time needed to explain things, hardware and software.

I'm not an educator, don't have much experience in tutoring, so I may be missing the mark, under-estimating students abilities, but from personal experience I've found it's best to aim low rather than overwhelm and scare off.

I can confirm that the traffic light is an ideal introduction to programming in schools. I used this for many years with great success. It can be readily extended for the high flyers in the class by controlling two or more sets of traffic and also adding push switches for pedestrian control.

Don't assume that the class all know the traffic light sequence though. The red+amber phase is often overlooked. Another tip is to use 1 second pauses between phases whilst testing and only entering the true timings when the programme works correctly.

Hi, Introducing the Picaxe into schools - Great -.

I used to use the Picaxe in UK schools to teach systems and control technology (now retired).

I started by rewriting the manuals in a simpler format with just the vital information so each student had a small hand book that covered the essential basics.

I started by show and tell - Several Picaxe chips and other bits to pass round. Some robots simple and a bit bigger to whet the appetite.
Ligh followers, line followers and bump and go robots that were desk top size.

The largest was a simple baseboard with ultrasonic ranging on it - a speech module allowed it to say hello when it was close to something and then turn away to find something else to say hello to. This was topped by a cardboard cut out photograph of a student - life sized!

It created a lot of laughs and interest. BUT be prepared for things to get broken at this stage.

We then did several fairly quick lessons on how basic systems work - 3 boxes - input - process and output.

Inputs are driven by sensors (discuss types - students will come up with a lot of suggestions) Processing=decision making based on what the sensors say.
outputs are speakers/actuators/motors/lights.

I used to use the human body as an example - input side/Sensors - Processing - outputs to muscles. If you get a student to stand on 1 foot you can see the actions happening - the foot wobbles as student brain tries to balance. Close eyes to reduce input data and balance gets worst.

We made up small PCB with 08 and a small bread board. Start programming by showing how to connect and relating to information in booklet.

Early programming only needs a few simple commands - High Low - Wait - Goto - For next - If then - understanding the labelling system of addresses.

After this a series of problems were presented for the students to work through in their own time - Flashing LEDs, moving motors, using LEDs to represent output devices. Initially the first few problems were gone through to show how they could be solved but the students quickly get the idea and go ahead themselves allowing you to focus on the less able who are struggling.

Typical problems:
Flash an LED on output 1, 5 times with 1 second between each flash. Wait for 5 seconds and repeat.

Flash an LED on output 1, 5 times with 1 second between first flash the 2 seconds then 3 seconds etc. Wait for 5 seconds and repeat.

Up to a car park has a barrier at the entrance. There are 50 places. The drivers press a switch to open the barrier which will only open IF there is space to park.

You will need some extra sensors (switches) write a programme to complete this task.

Above all the students should have fun. I can tell you from experience you will be run ragged getting downloads working/connecting to the PCs correctly despite clear instructions and generally fault finding BUT you get very quick at reading programmes to find the error. My practice was to help the student solve the problem by asking what they though was happening and get them to think it through (most of the time).

Logicator for PIC and PICAXE includes simulations which allow students to develop flowcharts and see the interaction with 'real world' systems.

Personally I am not keen on flow charting for students as they don't seem to take anything away from it in terms of general knowledge. having said that I did do flow charting of complex problems but on paper then look at how to convert to basic commands

I agree with that traffic light suggestion, & it's one I've long used to good effect -even back in Basic Stamp days in fact. It suits "what if" mind expanding traffic engineering extensions as well - pedestrian countdowns, orange before green, quiet road flashing orange etc. Even tertiary students may enthusiastically enter into role playing with Matchbox cars & Lego men !

Rick's thoughts & experiences tend to echo my own (even ½ a world away!),and I've also found flow charts are not as educationally beneficial as specific commands.This serves to remind that a "key command" booklet could be produced to suit, & I may be open to rustling something up- especially if it was slanted for perhaps pre & early teens. Those of you long out of classroom learning may care to reflect on the management benefits of "snap" setups as well- ponder "class ending & tidy up time" issues with the likes of youthful users shown below.

Elenco now offer quite sophisticated snap connected modules - motor drivers/remote control etc. I've already modified a 3 stud connector for a power NPN, but I'd pondered further adding a classic IR receiver to Ch.3 at my hacked PICAXEd module, maybe via a 2.5mm stereo socket plug in that'd suit vertical mount (& directional rotation). Simple IR control of the "snap" circuitry would then be possible & all I/Os of the embedded 08M would be utilised.

If we stuck to (say) the Top 10 key PICAXE commands, just which would we introduce for learners? Hands up there down the back ! Stan.

Stan, I would think that Andrew Hornblow's "Cheat Sheet for beginners" (see the link to that document on his website http://www.brightsparks.org.nz/MentorFTP//PICAXE-08/www_help/Index.htm ) would actually be a very good starting point regarding the main commands to be covered. Some changes I would make:
- Remove DEBUG, I never have used DEBUG,
- Include SERTXD instead.
- Remove GOTO (E. Dijkstra has already written about this dangerous command :O)
- Include DO LOOP and EXIT instead due to the flexibility of these commands.
- Include TUNE since it is so challenging but rewarding
- Include INFRAIN2 since remote control is so useful in applications

Andrew's proposal covers a little bit more than ten commands, but let's not be too fundamentalistic about the number. One could even think of an extra booklet (or extension chapter depending on the school application in mind) that includes somewhat more commands tuned to certain applications. This woudl be useful since the total PICAXE command set becomes somewhat unmanageable due to its sheer size.

This all could then be embedded in your educational booklet proposal. I will actually try to built up a proposal for such a booklet when running the study day at school, because I should get a direct impression on what kind of introductory topics and help suggestions are needed. This must then also include for example things like installation issues for USB download cables (AXE027) and the effect of long pauses on the download procedure.

Finally a number of simple test programs should be included that explain four things that I see as the most important:
1) the sequential nature of program exection
2) The control structures to provide variations on the pure sequential nature
3) The use of SYMBOL declarations to add meaning
4) The use of indentation to reveal the structure of a program

/Jurjen

Jurjen: Much of Andrew's "cheat sheet" arose from my own work in fact- I can spot one of my ~2003 era typos on it! Are "Snap" kits available in Sweden? Do you want a PICAXEd module mailed? Stan.

Stan,

I am most grateful for your offer but I haven't seen such a system (or anything similar) yet (I was in town today and looked for it!). I'll discuss with the school to see what is possible. I do realize that during the study day we will have to discuss the school's experimental facilities anyhow ...

/Jurjen

Although it'd be rather "Coals to Newcastle" if I mailed you a complete "80 in 1" PICAXEd setup,I'm open to doing so if p&p is covered. I can't believe an Ikea loving nation like Sweden does not have such kits available however. Tell you what- shoot me a return airfare & I'll bring my swag of 30 along personally ! Best make it before your winter sets in however... Stan.

Hi Stan, just sent you a PM

I am now making up the study day plan

/Jurjen

OK- have just PM replied. Stan

A small update report on the journey with my middle son's school ...

Last Tuesday (2 November) I had the study day (actually: morning, from 08:15 to 11:30) at school where 5 teachers joined. We were sitting around a square table (very appropiate for discussions!) with my three laptops installed (each equipped with the AXE092 schools experimenter board) such that there were two teachers per computer which appeared very suitable. I had a beamer and an internet conection available. After some repetition on the picaxe concept from the last meeting in August we did some simple programming exercises based on a set of simple programs I provided (flash a led etc.). These simple programs appeared very useful for generating a lot of discussions regarding understanding of the programming concepts. Much of the time however was also spent on discussions on how to introduce the technology in school, to align this with the current curriculum and methods they have and to discuss projects. I was again lucky to have very motivated teachers involved (the same ones as in August), and they took with them the three axe092 circuits and programming cables for some experimentation at home.

A few things to note:

1. It takes time to get to know the concept. We have not yet defined projects since the teachers feel they need more time to understand the technical aspects by doing some home exercises themselves. The Led flash program already generated a lot of questions like "what happens with a PAUSE commando, I thought it would dim all leds", "Am I free to choose the names in SYMBOL declarations" and "how must I describe the electrical circuit in the program" etc. We did not have time to cover examples with READADC etc. and to discuss the use of variables a little bit more. My intention is to add some basic simple tutorials on the forum.
2. We discussed minimum knowledge requirements for children to work with the system. Although we initially argued that a basic theoretical knowledge of voltage, current and resistance is need in order to understand the use of resistive sensors in voltage dividers, it was also mentioned that many applications like a traffic light do not require this at all and can be used as appetizers at an earlier age
3. It is best to somehow attach to the methods that the school has. In that respect the school has a system that is very similar to manuka's "click-and-go" system but uses magnets instead. This system could be easily extended for inclusion of a picaxe (including an IR receiver as a standard component!) and some leds, see the following website: Elnic Laborationssats (Thanks for the inspiration Stan/manuka!)
4. The picaxe forum is a way too large step for them. Instead I built a small community-access-only forum for the school on my website which includes the following sections:
   - "First help" (including descriptions on how to start up teh PE and test the connection via Firmware Check), presentation material used by me, simple code examples, external links, and of course a welcome message. Furthermore everybody can start topics and reply to them. I must note that with the current state of web portal technology it is remarakbly easy to set up such a system (I use Joomla as my website's portal system and Kunena as the on-site forum, here is an impression of my forum for the teachers):
   
   
5. A sheet with a short summary of the main commands needed was put high on the list of things to have, i will make a variant of the one discussed earlier in this tread.
6. The AXE092 circuit board appears extremely useful, in particular due to the visible logical numbering of the input and output devices as printed on the circuit board.

In the beginning of next year we will have a new meeting and define actual projects (and some exercising I guess)
I hope that this description provides for some useful inspiration for others with similar ideas.
/Jurjen

Here is my draw on a single-page main BASIC commands list, inspired by the Cheat Sheet approach by Manuka/Stan. It is adapted for the AXE092 Schools Experimenter Board and also includes a section on the steps to take if a program download fails. Please use it as you see fit (also open to comments for improvements)

/Jurjen

Looking good- but some tweaks may be in order I feel. For starters the Symbol treatment should say that no extra memory is used this way. At the 08M dia you may want to say the small numbers in side the IC outline have no significance in this context, rather than "forget it" as at present. I assume you'll translate to Swedish? Naturally my NZ educational views may differ from your Swedish context, so perhaps jog my memory re the level/duration etc that these are aimed at please ! Stan.

i found my school use picaxe at A level and GCSE- BUT THERE THINKING OF CHANGING IT TO A NEWER SYSTEM!!!

Hello Stan, thanks for the remarks, and I updated the attachment accordingly.

In case someone likes the format but would like to make some small changes (the choice of commands covered is of course a personal one), please give me a PM and I wil send the .doc version which can be edited (but cannot be upladed to this forum)

/Jurjen