Let's Go Adruino! How to get started.

arduino.kevinbrookhouser.com

If you're interested in bringing coding or making or both into your classroom, you should definitely get started with Arduino.

With a very small investment, you can get started. Here's an Amazon shopping list with the components I've used to build my Arduino on the Road kit.

With just a little bit of training, my students have used Arduino to make art projects, museum exhibits, and robots coding in C++. 

Materials

1. Arduino Uno board (or fake Arduino Uno board)
2. Breadboard
3. Jumper wires
4. LEDs
5. 220 Ohm resistors
6. Computer (Mac, Windows, Linux preferred). If you have a chromebook, we can still get you started. 

Get your computer ready

MacOS, Windows, Linux

Download the IDE

Chromebooks

Get the Chromebook App (paid)

Design your board without a board

Use tinercad

Set up the board

Set up your board following the drawing below. To protect your hardware, please observe the following tips.

• Only wire the Arduino while the board is plugged into a computer, battery, or wall outlet. 
• Always use recommended resistors when connecting peripherals such as LED lights, buttons, and actuators. In this project, I like to make sure I am forcing the current to the LED by crossing the gutter along the middle of the breadboard. 

Power up your board

Connect your Arduino to your computer using a USB cord. You'll need to declare that you're using an Arduino Uno board (even if you're using the generic board I suggest). Also choose the port. If you have an option, look for the port that includes the letters USB. If you only have one option, choose that one. 

Check out your code

/*

  Blink

  Turns on an LED on for one second, then off for one second, repeatedly.

  Most Arduinos have an on-board LED you can control. On the UNO, MEGA and ZERO 

  it is attached to digital pin 13, on MKR1000 on pin 6. LED_BUILTIN is set to

  the correct LED pin independent of which board is used.

  If you want to know what pin the on-board LED is connected to on your Arduino model, check

  the Technical Specs of your board  at https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Products

  

  This example code is in the public domain.

  modified 8 May 2014

  by Scott Fitzgerald

  

  modified 2 Sep 2016

  by Arturo Guadalupi

  

  modified 8 Sep 2016

  by Colby Newman

*/

// the setup function runs once when you press reset or power the board

void setup() {

  // initialize digital pin LED_BUILTIN as an output.

  pinMode(LED_BUILTIN, OUTPUT);

}

// the loop function runs over and over again forever

void loop() {

  digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH);   // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)

  delay(1000);                       // wait for a second

  digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, LOW);    // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW

  delay(1000);                       // wait for a second

}

The first part of this code is merely documentation to help explain what's happening. The part beginning with "void setup" declares that pin

Compile and upload

Want to learn more? Arduino offers more detailed instructions, and gives you options to take your learning to the next level.