Pi Day

What is better than printing a pi cup with your 3d printer on pi day?

Printing it wirelessly using the raspberry pi & monitoring it remotely. Love the Octopi to monitor the 3d printer remotely. I can use the raspberry pi camera to see its progress too!

Continued Learning

My daughter had a party at my house.  Two of the teenagers who came attended the class I taught at the library. It has been 6 months since that time. I asked them if they had been doing anything with the raspberry pi's. One shook her head no. The other one did too and then paused and said that he had. He just helped another wire the light switch so when it was turned on it played Jazz music on the surround sound in the room. Which got annoying after awhile, so he changed it to play different genres of music now.
I showed the two how I setup my 3d printer to run wirelessly using the pi. I had to smile that these two teens stopped and chatted with me while the rest of the party was playing games in the basement of my home.  Sometimes the best teaching moments are the ones not scheduled.

Thankful For a Slice of Pi This November

I'm currently not working at the library, but I am continuing my learning at home with the raspberry pi. The pi has become a comfort to me. Seriously. My boy has had a few seizures. They all have happened at night. They have been few and far between, but I started thinking that perhaps he has more seizures than we realize. I decided it would be best to monitor him at night and see. With my pi and a little searching I found how to video at night, so I could watch him when I was coherent and awake. I did a trial run last night. I have a few more tweaks to do on placement and setup, but I know it is possible to use the pi for what I need. That's exactly why I love the pi, it is so versatile that people can use it to create what they need in their lives, it helps us get through challenges in life. The pi is a vital instrument to raising my family. I can clearly communicate with doctors if the seizures are sporadic and far between, or if they are happening often. I didn't have to spend a lot of money either for a camera to monitor my child. (Which with me not working at this time was another blessing). Thanks Picademy right now you are helping me with my family at home! The pi is giving me a little comfort in a hard situation!!!

Action!!!

We used the SenseHat and students figured out how to change the LED colors that scrolled across the screen on their own. They also made emoji's and waving flags. One group used the humidity sensor and changed LED colors. We started with the ExplorerHat and we showed them where to get the information on using it. It was fun to see how well they were engaged in learning. I wasn't sure if we would get any students especially since it's Homecoming week at the local high school and they have activities every day after school. Our group was smaller for sure but we still had a friend from each group attend, which I am grateful for because they will share their knowledge. It's fun to see students engaged in learning.

Camera!!

After school Pi was busy again today. Many brought friends who didn't come last week and many caught on faster than before. I watched as a young girl whose partner last week didn't come until later in the class succeed at using the pi by herself. When her "partner" from last week came she asked her if she wanted to join her again. The high school girl did and it was fun to watch the younger girl bring the high school girl up to speed. I smiled as those who are familiar to the coding branched out on their own and found the games on the raspberry pi. We added the camera module and everyone had success taking pictures with their pi. We added effects and showed how to do a camera loop. We discussed different ways to add and create buttons. Buttons were difficult but the majority finally had their buttons working in the end. Next week-Action!!!

SUCCESS-MANY understood variables and I noticed their coding was not like the example. They made their own variables and remembered to insert it to make their program work.

SUCCESS-THEY retained boot up and setup directions for the Raspberry Pi.

SUCCESS-AFTER a short reminder they rembered how to open and run their programs.

SUCCESS-THEY brought more friends over, we  had 1.5 times more participants.

SUCCESS-POSITIVE role models from older people to younger people. One High School girl was overheard telling a 4th grade girl, "You keep this up and you are going to be a great programmer."

Lights!

    We held our first Raspberry Pi class afterschool at the library. I was happy to see many who wanted to come and learn on their very own.  I had 60 year olds down to 4th graders.  That made the class really fun.  I paired up some that couldn't type well with others, since we didn't have enough raspberry pi's. It was fun to watch the enthusiasm of all the ages.

     I started at the basics.  Plugging in a pi, adding the sd card, powering it up, shutting it down correctly, adding the periphals. Then, I went through making a blinking light and adding other lights.  I gave them a challenge to code their own name in morse code and handed out a morse code paper with the dashes and dots for the alphabet. 

     All of the class seemed to be engaged and worked hard for two hours straight. They were eager to stay longer.  I like to cutoff when they are having fun so that they will want to come again. So I told them we needed to put the pi's away and that next week we would be learning how to use the camera module.  I heard a lot of moans that class was ending, but I lot of excitement when I told them we would be using the camera module.

     My "60" year old couple worked well.  I noticed the husband knew a little coding and the wife hasn't done much with computers at all.  I know her personally and getting on email has been a challenge.  I smiled that her husband came with her to assist her.  I smiled as they both smiled when they had accomplished the tasks.  My 60 year old who struggles using the computer texted me and asked me for the website I mentioned in class to improve Python skills.  After texting her the website, she texted me back and said she was going to get practicing and learning Python and be better prepared for next week.

     We celebrated FAILure's too.  Every time someone failed and we fixed their failure, I asked, "What did you learn from this FAILure?"  We then would get the attention of the class and stop and explain what the person was trying to do, why it didn't work (why they failed), and then what we did to correct that failure. 

     I posted some pictures of our class on our library's Facebook page and had a mother comment about her son thoroughly enjoying the class.  In fact, he was so excited that he had a friend who did not make it to the first class, but her son wanted me to know he would teach him exactly what we had learned so he was not behind next week when he can come. 

SUCCESS-we already have youth willing to teach others the skills they are learning! 

SUCCESS-I have people who were once intimidated by computers, engaged and wanting to learn more, and willing to work harder during the week to come more prepared for class.

SUCCESS-One boy and his friend had to leave earlier than the rest of the class.  This boy took his friend where he needed to go and came back 15 minutes later.  He said I decided I wanted to be back here so I rearranged my schedule.

SUCCESS-I watched a mother who stayed while her daughter took the class. She smiled when her daughter finally had success and her daughter started to cheer.  I was taking photos of the class and soon I noticed her mom with her phone out taking a picture of her daughter.  She said, "I have to capture this moment, she is just so happy." Parent's who observed recognized learning moments!!!

The Month After #Picademy

Life has been extremely busy since #Picademy. I had many activities to do, for the library, to prepare for the solar eclipse. Though this blog has been quiet, I have been making steady progress. I set up two pi's and have been teaching my own sons for practice and troubleshooting. I've ordered 7 pi's and everything to get going. LED's, jumper cables, gpio pinout boards, sense HAT's, camera modules, etc. I've price checked and tried to get a great setup to begin with. As much as I would love pi-topCEEDs, I had to go with a cheaper monitor setup. I went to one of the local universities surplus for monitors and each monitor setup was under $10 (I am getting some donated from a local business too, Yeah!!!). I am currently soldering motors for the Explorer HAT, and I subscribed to the paper version of the MagPi. I reported to our local Kiwanis club about my #Picademy experience and spoke to our local high school's computer science teacher about raspberry pi activities I'm holding in September (she has a high school club she wants to encourage to come participate). I've made a digital flyer and it's out on our library's Web page and Facebook so we can get the word out that pi classes are coming. I spoke with our local newspaper and have a story coming out today to encourage patrons to come learn.  I also have been assisting a young man with his senior project using the raspberry pi for digital signage. Many thanks to #piChatUSA people for giving me direction there. I've flashed SD cards with NOOBS. I've installed and practiced SSH and VNC. (BTW-NEVER even knew before what those were).  Needless to say my pi learning days have just begun. I do feel like I have learned a lot this August and I'm excited to see what September brings.