This lesson is all about getting your thoughts down on paper. It might be frustrating, but your teacher will not be telling you what the "correct" answer is, or trying to steer you towards it. Do your best to think about exactly why the arduino works the way it does. "I don't know" is not an answer. The deeper you think, the more likely it will be that what you learn in this unit to correct your thoughts, will stick!

Observe the video of a fully completed arduino and bread board setup.

When you are finished observing, rejoin your group and discuss what is happening to cause the breadboard/arduino to do what they are doing. How do the light bulbs light? Of course the video shows you how to code and plug the lights in, but what is happening inside the wires to make those light bulbs do what they're doing? Things must be happening at a very tiny level in order for such a small thing to function!

Your teacher may also have a physical arduino set up for you to look at in person.

When you're finished discussing, write what you think is going on. You might not know the right answer, but do your best to make your description as detailed as possible. Remember, it is not helpful to simply write what you saw. You want to make sure to zoom in to what's happening at a < microscopic level!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1FVSpkw6q4

The goal of this lesson is to remind you of the parts of the atom, and some basic properties of each. At the end of this lesson you will answer some questions to test your understanding.

Watch the video below and answer the questions that follow.

In this lesson, you will be given 2 wires, a battery, and a light bulb. You need to figure out how to make the light bulb light. When you figure it out, work your way through the challenges that follow.

Make the regular light bulb light with two wires and a battery. (You may need extra hands. It is difficult for one person to do this alone.)

Make the regular light bulb light with one wire and a battery.

Redo challenge #2 with a different orientation. Make the light bulb light (in a different way) with one wire, a bulb, and a battery.

Make the LED bulb light with two wires and a battery.

NOTE: Do not leave your LED connected to your battery for long. LEDs usually need to be in circuits with resistors to ensure the bulbs don't blow. You will learn about this in more detail in later lessons.

Make the LED bulb light with one wire and a battery.

NOTE: Do not leave your LED connected to your battery for long. LEDs usually need to be in circuits with resistors to ensure the bulbs don't blow. You will learn about this in more detail in later lessons.

Electrons moving across the filament in the light bulb cause the light bulb to light.

The 3 components of any functioning circuit are:

• voltage source - provides a reason for electrons to travel in your circuit.
• current - moving electrons
• resistor - slows the flow of electrons in the circuit

Note, if the circuit does not provide a closed path, electrons will not flow. There needs to be a connection from the negative side of the battery through the light bulb and out to the positive side of the battery in order for the light bulb to light.

In this lesson you'll do some writing, watching, and discussing to find out how batteries work. Afterwards you will watch a short video and answer some questions about the history of the battery.

Below is a picture of a battery. All batteries have a positive and a negative side.

Observe the picture below and answer the questions that follow.

To answer the questions in the previous step, you must have drawn something like the picture below.

Watch this short video on how batteries work. Then answer the questions that follow.

The diagrams below show how electrons move in a circuit. Copy these diagrams into your notebook.

In this lesson you will be setting up a circuit to perform an actual lab investigation. You will not only need to determine what your independent and dependent variables will be, you will also have to think deeply about other facets of planning an effective lab investigation.

Next you will design a lab to investigate the relationship between resistance and current. You will need to be thoughtful in designing this lab to be sure you get a quantity and quality of data that you can trust. All labs have errors, but no errors should be preventable.

With your group, discuss your plan for investigating this relationship. Beyond knowing what the independent and dependent variables are, you should also think about:

• What variable(s) will you control?
• How many times will you change the independent variable?
• How will you quantitatively change the independent variable?
• How will you measure the dependent variable each time you change the independent variable?
• Once you have your data, how will you communicate it to others? (Hint: A data table is never the easiest way for a reader to determine the relationship between two variables.)

Your teacher will let you know how much time you have to discuss this lab procedure. Once you are confident about the procedure you have written down, call your teacher over to check. Your teacher will give you the go ahead to begin the lab.

Note: Your teacher may need to review with you how to tell the resistance of each resistor based on the colored bands.

1. Use the simulation at right to perform the lab investigation you designed. If you feel you have done something in error, feel free to stop what you are doing and start the trial again.
2. Collect your data below. You will then need to decide how to communicate your data so it can be easily understood by the public.

What is the relationship between resistance and current in a circuit? Sharing your data table with the public is not enough. It is very difficult to determine a relationship simply looking at a series of numbers. It is much better to view relationships with a trend line.

Create a trend line of your data using Google Sheets. Make sure to share the Google Sheet with your group mates and your teacher when you are finished. Then answer the question below.

In this lesson, you will build a digital circuit and investigate it more in depth. You will learn what "short circuit" and "resistivity" mean.

1. Select Intro
2. Get a light bulb to light up using the fewest parts possible.
3. When you’ve got a working light bulb, click the diagram symbol in the bottom right corner (next to the picture of the battery).

1. Select Lab
2. Build a circuit with wires, and a battery (no resistor/light bulb).
3. When you've seen what happens, click + "Wire resistivity" and increase the resistivity.

1. Select Intro
2. Build a circuit with wires, a battery, a resistor, and at least one switch.
3. Investigate what opening and closing the switch does.
4. When you have a handle on the function of a switch, try to create a more complicated circuit that allows certain switches to turn off certain light bulbs while leaving others on. If you are successful, draw it where prompted below.

In this lesson you will be investigating which materials make good conductors, and which don't. (Often poor conductors are good insulators.) While you may already have some knowledge of how to sort your materials before you begin, you will need to actually measure the currents they produce with a multimeter. Pay close attention to the directions your teacher gives you on how to use the multimeter. If you use it improperly, it will break.

Brainstorm for a bit about the relationship between current and resistance.

Watch your teacher to learn how to properly use a multimeter. You need to make sure that your multimeter is properly set up before measuring current in your circuit, so you don't blow your multimeter.

When your teacher has finished the demonstration, set up a circuit with your wires, battery, multimeter, and one of your materials to test.

Once you have set up your circuit, measure the current produced by each material and record your data. When you are finished with your investigation, answer the questions below

Think back to your activity where you made the light bulb light using two wires, a battery and a bulb. Then think about the scenario where you only used one wire and a bulb, and how you were able to try a few orientations that worked.        

In this activity you will use pencil lead as a resistor and manipulate it to test how certain variables affect the value of the resistance. Recall any good lab practices you have learned in previous years of science. Any time you are doing a lab investigation, you should have best lab practices in mind. You will also need to recall how to use a multimeter.

What could affect whether a resistor has high or low resistance? Think quietly to yourself about this first. When your teacher gives you the ok, you can share with your group and/or the class.

How does length of resistor affect the value of resistance?

Since you cannot measure resistance directly, you will need to measure current (using your multimeter) and then calculate resistance using V=IR. Remember, your goal in this lab is to measure the relationship between length and resistance. These are the two variables that should be in your graph and data table. What you will be actually measuring in the lab is length and current. Once you write down the value of current in each measurement, a group member should immediately calculate resistance, since that's what you actually want.

Change the length of the resistor (pencil lead) by breaking the lead little by little. Make sure to measure the length each time you break it, and always have your two leads connected to the very ends of the lead. If you don't, the length you wrote down will not actually be the length you used.

How does cross sectional area of the resistor affect the value of resistance?

Since you cannot measure resistance directly, you will need to measure current (using your multimeter) and then calculate resistance using V=IR. Remember, your goal in this lab is to measure the relationship between cross sectional area and resistance. These are the two variables that should be in your graph and data table. What you will be actually measuring in the lab is cross sectional area and current. Once you write down the value of current in each measurement, a group member should immediately calculate resistance, since that's what you actually want.

Change the cross sectional area of the resistor (pencil lead) by grabbing a new piece of thicker or thinner lead each time. You may not get enough data points to be confident about your trend, but you may be able to see a trend if you do your lab to the best of your ability.

By now, you should be pretty comfortable with how to complete a circuit and get a light bulb to light, but in order to program a circuit board with arduino, you'll need to learn about breadboards. In this lesson, you'll learn all about how to make a circuit function with a breadboard.

Take a look at your breadboard. Gently pull back a little tab of the sticky backing to observe what's underneath. (Do not take the backing off! Only peel a little bit.) Here's what's underneath:

You should see metal strips below the sticky backing. The pin holes on the front of the breadboard allow any wires you stick in the holes to touch the metal strips on the back.

From the website Sparkfun: An LED inserted into a breadboard. Notice how each leg of the LED is placed on either side of the ravine. This prevents the connections to the LED from being shorted.

Take a look at the sides of your breadboard. You should see two columns, one labeled "+" and one labeled "-".

These columns correspond to the + and - sides of the battery. Any pins in these columns will be effectively touching either the + or - side of the battery (depending on which column).

At this point, you should be able to combine what you already know about how to complete a circuit with your newly formed knowledge of breadboards to create a functioning circuit in a breadboard. Remember that it does matter which "side" of the LED connects to the positive side of the battery and which side connects to the negative side of the battery.

Note: It is VERY important that you always use a resistor when you put an LED in the circuit! Not doing so could result in the LED bulb burning out. Thus, your teacher should see both an LED and a resistor in your functioning circuit.

The breadboard is not a battery itself, so you will need to connect a pin (anywhere) in the "+" column of the breadboard with the + side of the battery (using a wire). You will also need to connect a pin (anywhere) in the "-" column of the breadboard with the - side of the battery (using a wire).

When you have gotten your light bulb to light, call over your teacher to show your circuit. Then, on your breadboard printout, draw a schematic of the working circuit you created to hand in to your teacher.

Add another component to your circuit, such as a switch. When you are finished, draw this new successful circuit on a blank breadboard worksheet to hand into your teacher.

In this lesson you will start to learn the language of coding. You will need to understand how to communicate a set of "rules" for a computer to follow. Then you will need to familiarize yourself with specific coding terms to help you communicate in the language.

We've all experienced it. You wake up, you roll over and click the button to wake up your phone to check to see if you have any notifications and.....

YOUR SCREEN IS BLACK!

What do you do? It's 6:30 am and you have to get to school by 8. Write out a list of things you might do. (We might all do the same first step, but what if that doesn't work? Keep asking yourself "What if that doesn't work?")

You and your classmates will be giving your teacher instructions in a moment. Wait for your teacher to ask for your help, then participate in the class activity.

There are many computer coding languages that help us figure out how to instruct computers to do things for us. Instructing computers to do things for us is often referred to as "coding." Today, you will be "coding" with Scratch.

1. Go to the scratch website (scratch.mit.edu)
2. Click "Try it out" at the top. It's the green circle with the cat.
3. On the right, a tutorial will appear. Click through the steps of the tutorial to learn where to find certain commands. Remember, now you are operating in the computer's language, so you need to learn that language and the tutorial will help you do that.
4. Once you've clicked through and performed all the steps of the tutorial, share your project with your teacher!

Think about the programmers who wrote the code for the PHeT simulation you used to learn about circuits. There is a picture below in case you need a reminder.

Try to write a set of steps that a computer might follow to build this circuit and get it to light. Make sure your set of steps also instructs the computer how to behave with a switch in the circuit.

As a bonus, think about any words you have heard that are related to logic or computer programming, and try to work those in. Look back at your list of scratch commands and use these!

Hint: Pretend the electrons are "sprites" (like the cat)!