21st Century Learning and Teaching

Adafruit LED backpacks make it incredibly simple to add small bitmapped displays to a project. Each requires just four wires: power, ground and two communication lines to a microcontroller.

Two common questions we receive:

How can I use more than one 8x8 matrix backpack in an Arduino sketch?

Can I have two (or more) matrices always showing the same image?

This tutorial demonstrates both.

We’ve had spooky Halloween displays on the brain lately, but the concepts here are equally applicable to more innocent schemes!

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https://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=ARDUINO

https://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=LEDs

The 2018 Game Developer's Conference will feature an exhibition called Alt.Ctrl.GDC dedicated to games that use alternative control schemes and interactions. Gamasutra will be talking to the developers of each of the games that have been selected for the showcase. You can find all of the interviews here.

Mark Wars will have players drawing lines with markers in order to guide their ever-moving robot to a goal before their opponent can. However, as they take turns drawing lines, there is nothing stopping them from drawing a line that will mislead their opponent's robot, creating a constant sabotage between players as well.

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https://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=Coding

https://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=makerspace

Welcome to the exciting world of teaching STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) to your own kids or for charitable work. Kids are naturally curious about how things work, and with a new trend in hardware companies creating open source hardware products, it's a great time to teach kids about electronics. But modern technology can seem too complex to even begin to understand. So where do you start?

About the Robot: This robot will run on tile, wood, laminate, low cut carpet, or other smooth surfaces. As it is designed, it will not work on extremely rough surfaces such as concrete, shag or tall carpet, grass, and such. The rough cost of this robot should be less than $10. On average, about $5~7 dollars if you look. You can find the majority of these parts on Amazon, salvage from Goodwill, garage sales, or other places..

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https://gustmees.wordpress.com/?s=maker+practice

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=makered

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=makerspace

Support us on kickstarter! http://kck.st/1sWDY2T www.quirkbot.com

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http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Ideas+for+makerspaces

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2014/08/20/maker-space-a-new-trend-in-education-and-a-big-responsibility/

The Mini BUG Robot In last blog post (tutorial) WE were practicing OUR soldering by creating "JOHNNY the ski-man", a bit "Electronics-Art" using electronics components. In the video below, which I created with the FREEWARE <===> Windows Movie Maker <===> WE see ALSO "The Mini BUG Robot" who gives "JOHNNY" a ride. It…

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Robot vision made easier

Pixy2 is smaller, faster and more capable than the original Pixy.  Like its predecessor, Pixy2 can learn to detect objects that you teach it, just by pressing a button.  Additionally, Pixy2 has new algorithms that detect and track lines for use with line-following robots.  The new algorithms can detect intersections and “road signs” as well. The road signs can tell your robot what to do, such as turn left, turn right, slow down, etc.  And Pixy2 does all of this at 60 frames-per-second, so your robot can be fast, too.

Use Pixy2 for lots of different applications, find a project, or use Pixy2 for something no one has considered!

Connect directly to Arduino or Raspberry Pi

No need to futz around with tiny wires — Pixy2 comes with a special cable to plug directly into an Arduino and a USB cable to plug into a Raspberry Pi, so you can get started quickly.  No Arduino or Raspberry Pi?  No problem!  Pixy2 has several interfaces (SPI, I2C, UART, and USB) and simple communications, so you get your chosen controller talking to Pixy2 in short order.

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https://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=ARDUINO

Now a little robot from the University of California Berkeley is putting on a jumping clinic. Meet Salto, the bot that not only leaps four times higher than its height—higher than you could ever manage—but strings together multiple jumps and bounds off walls in the process. Oh, and it’s only got one leg.

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Build a voice-controlled Arduino robot. You will use your own Android phone (powered by Google Cloud Services) to control it. Lots of fun!. Find this and other hardware projects on Hackster.io.

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http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=Ideas+for+makerspaces

We saw tons of new stuff at CES this year. But one thing that particularly caught our eye was Kubo, the robot that teaches kids how to code.

Kubo is a pretty simple robot – it’s about the size of a can of soda and has two wheels that allow it to roll around a desk or table. But what it lacks in advanced physical ability it makes up for in brains.

Kubo comes with its own programming language called TagTile. The language consists of puzzle pieces that fit together to give Kubo instructions. For example, you could connect three pieces together – forward, turn, then another forward. Kubo then drives over these pieces oncer to “learn” the command, then can remember and perform it without needing the pieces.

Kubo reads the puzzle pieces using an RFID technology – each piece has an individual embedded RFID tag, and Kubo itself has a reader built in.

While it sounds simple, it’s a pretty good way to teach kids the basics of programming without having them stare at a screen.

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Ideas+for+makerspaces

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2014/08/24/coding-a-new-trend-in-education-and-a-big-responsibility/

Do you think that robots with artificial intelligence could ultimately provide the expertise and multiple intelligences that we need from human experts?
It’s already clear that artificial intelligence can provide information that we used to secure from experts or that we had to look up ourselves. Just think about Siri, Encore, and the power of many other search engines. There is every reason to believe that these systems will continue to get ‘more intelligent’. As I am writing, the best “go” player in the world is struggling to compete successfully with a newly developed computational system.
I think we need to separate three issues. Firstly does the system reach its ‘answers’ in the same way that human beings do? This is the difference between ‘artificial intelligence’ and ‘human simulation. Secondly does the system manifest its intelligence? For many of us, there’s a big difference between typing a question on our pad, as opposed to conversing with a robot or avatar. The more that the robot resembles a human being, the more satisfying it will be to many individuals, although not to me! Thirdly can the computational system provide a recommended course of action that is as solid, or even more solid, than a well-trained professional? In a way that the client finds satisfying? For the foreseeable future (say a decade or two), I think that the answer is no. But I would add that for individuals who cannot afford to consult a professional, or for whom no professional is available, an artificial system will typically be much better than the recommendations of a friend or than common sense – which is all too often common non-sense.

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http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?tag=Howard+GARDNER

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