User:Hastklass/sandbox

gPiO interface
An important niche has opened up for the Raspberry Pi in UK primary education. Many schools are embracing the tablet as a flexible solution to the children’s digital learning needs. The replacement of desktop computers and laptops with tablets is having a negative impact on the ability of schools to deliver the physical computing elements of the new programmes of study for Computing.

The rationale for teaching Physical Computing has never been clearer. The ‘internet of things’ is now a major focus for Internet based developments and it is vital that the current generation of school children clearly understands the potential of physical systems to improve the lives of everyone on our planet.

The Raspberry Pi with its two rows of GPIO pins makes it ideal for simple control technology, enabling children to program in Scratch and Python and to use cheap, generic electrical components. An important additional benefit is that it raises the children’s awareness of computing outside the closed iOS and Microsoft systems that they otherwise use.

For children of primary school age the GPIO pins are very small and most children do not have the fine motor skills or the resilience needed to successfully connect a range of components directly to the Raspberry PI. There are a number of proprietary products available for GPIO work, one of which, the gPiO interface, was specifically designed for use in the primary school classroom. The device allows children to use large 4mm ‘banana’ style plugs to quickly and simply connect components to the correct gPiO pins via an interface that at the same time protects the Raspberry Pi from short circuits.

We can take some bespoke pictures of the children using the gPiO.

Technical specification:

https://prezi.com/fd8fal2sjosp/physical-computing/ https://sites.google.com/site/primaryictitt/home/key-stage-2/control https://www.raspberrypi.org/resources/teach/ https://prezi.com/pwffhmhbunwc/e2bn/

Graham Hastings Hd Computing St John’s College School Cambridge