Before the Maker Lab students begin the open inquiry phases, they first learn and practice some important skills, supported by small assignments.

In this assignment they are tasked with decoding a secret message from a ("digital") electronic signal. They do this via a simulated circuit (in Tinkercad) to quickly learn how to control an Arduino without yet worrying about the hardware interfacing of actual devices. This is meant to be a fun experiential way to learn some basic programming skills and syntax.

NOTE: Instructors interested in creating similar encoded messages are encouraged reach out to me via forrestbradbury ("AT") gmail.com, and I can share my Python code for generating Arduino commands which encode desired messages as pulse control sequences - and I can additionally explain what all this entails :)

Contents:

• assignment instructions in Powerpoint slides: ArduinoTinkercad-exercise_public.pptx
• link to Example Circuit in Tinkercad: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/cQkaWSJ4esH
• a text file containing a function the students should include in their Arduino code for part 4 of the assignment: characterlookupfunction.txt