Connections between the physical world and the computer are becoming increas- ingly relevant to connected classrooms.
Two of our colleagues at the University of Virginia
School of Engineering, Kamin Whitehouse and
Hossein Haj-Hariri, are exploring ways to save
energy through home automation using sensors
that monitor heating, water use, and electricity.
This project, funded by the National Science
Foundation, is achieving 25–30% reductions in
energy use in pilot buildings in Charlottesville,
Virginia, USA, with no reduction in comfort.
Whitehouse and Haj-Hariri are collaborating
with researchers in the Microsoft Laboratory of
Things to integrate this pilot work into an “
operating system” for your house that you can monitor via a smartphone or tablet. More information
about this project is available in MIT Technology
Review ( bit.ly/14CHsvo).
Classrooms can now model this real-world
work. Three components are involved in a project of this type:
1. Sensors (temperature, light, sound, etc.)
to generate data
2. Hardware to collect the data that sensors
generate
3. Software to process and visually display
the data
Acquiring Data from Sensors
The hardware that collects the data uses an ana-log-to-digital (A/D) converter to translate an
analog signal into a digital record. Teachers can
use a variety of inexpensive classroom tools to
connect the computer to the real world in this
manner. We are currently making extensive use of
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Creating a Visual Telegraph with the PicoBoard
A Scratch script (top) displays dashes and dots
(bottom) that reflect the length of time students depress a
telegraph key. 3D printers can create a working telegraph key,
such as this one connected to the input of a PicoBoard (right).
