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Elevating Micro:bit: Computer Science, Data Science and NGSS Integration

Rudy Escobar

STEM and Computer Science Coordinator

rescobar@stancoe.org

@rudstemcs

@RudyChem

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Agenda

Introduction to the micro:bit
Explore ideas to incorporate the micro:bit with Computer Science and NGSS.
Experience a computer science and NGSS activity using the micro:bit.
Closing

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What is a micro:bit?

Microprocessor with:

Accelerometer
Bluetooth
Compass
Temperature Sensor
Microphone
Speaker
Connections for additional accessories.

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Taking heart pulse data

3D Boats analyzing water waves

Measuring acceleration during rocket launches

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More Ideas and Resources

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Water level and pump

Earthquakes

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Car Acceleration with Micro:bit

Radio, Robotics and more….

Parachutes

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Possible Phenomena

Soil Moisture
Land Surface Temperatures
Earthquake Warning System
Collisions and Car Crashes

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How can we use the micro:bit in the science classroom?

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What do you notice?

What do you think is causing the changes in temperature?

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Heat Island: https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/learn-about-heat-islands

Causes of Heat Islands

Heat islands form as a result of several factors:

Reduced Natural Landscapes in Urban Areas. Trees, vegetation, and water bodies tend to cool the air by providing shade, transpiring water from plant leaves, and evaporating surface water, respectively. Hard, dry surfaces in urban areas – such as roofs, sidewalks, roads, buildings, and parking lots – provide less shade and moisture than natural landscapes and therefore contribute to higher temperatures.

Urban Material Properties. Conventional human-made materials used in urban environments such as pavements or roofing tend to reflect less solar energy, and absorb and emit more of the sun’s heat compared to trees, vegetation, and other natural surfaces. Often, heat islands build throughout the day and become more pronounced after sunset due to the slow release of heat from urban materials.

Urban Geometry. The dimensions and spacing of buildings within a city influence wind flow and urban materials’ ability to absorb and release solar energy. In heavily developed areas, surfaces and structures obstructed by neighboring buildings become large thermal masses that cannot release their heat readily. Cities with many narrow streets and tall buildings become urban canyons, which can block natural wind flow that would bring cooling effects.

Heat Generated from Human Activities. Vehicles, air-conditioning units, buildings, and industrial facilities all emit heat into the urban environment. These sources of human-generated, or anthropogenic, waste heat can contribute to heat island effects.

Weather and Geography. Calm and clear weather conditions result in more severe heat islands by maximizing the amount of solar energy reaching urban surfaces and minimizing the amount of heat that can be carried away. Conversely, strong winds and cloud cover suppress heat island formation. Geographic features can also impact the heat island effect. For example, nearby mountains can block wind from reaching a city, or create wind patterns that pass through a city.

Characteristics of Heat Islands

Heat islands are usually measured by the temperature difference between cities relative to the surrounding areas. Temperature can also vary inside a city. Some areas are hotter than others due to the uneven distribution of heat-absorbing buildings and pavements, while other spaces remain cooler as a result of trees and greenery. These temperature differences constitute intra-urban heat islands. In the heat island effect diagram, urban parks, ponds, and residential areas are cooler than downtown areas.

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Scenario/Task:

Use the physical computing device (micro:bit)to collect temperature and light intensity data in different areas around the school campus,and if possible around your neighborhood.

Analyze and interpret the data based on which places have cooler temperatures.

Make recommendations to what can be done to avoid heat islands in your area.

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Exploring MakeCode

Create a “New Project”

https://makecode.microbit.org/

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Simulator

Menu

Code Blocks

Help

Account

Coding languages

Extensions

Advanced Features

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Using Data Logger

We will begin with the datalogger extension.

This extension helps us record the data directly to the micro:bit

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Temperature Conversions

Using functions and and variable to convert the temperature to fahrenheit.

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Using Data Logger

You can open the file explorer and click on “MY DATA”.

This will open the micro:bit data log.

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Using Data Logger

These dataset can be downloaded as a .csv file and used for data analysis.

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Other Ideas

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There are claims that aerosols pollutants are cooling the earth because these aerosols are blocking the sunlight.

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Can we use the micro:bit light sensor to analyze the light intensity in different area.

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We can also use the same sensor to obtain cloud cover data just like weather apps do.

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We can do this by using the Math blocks.

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CODAP https://codap.concord.org/

The .csv file can be uploaded to CODAP for your students to analyze.

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Using Radio

How do we collect data Inside from outside?

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Simple Code Sender - Celcius

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Simple Code Sender - Fahrenheit Conversion

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Receiver Code - Temperature

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Environmental Data Collection

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Additional Resources

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Mini-Activity

MS-ESS3–5

Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.

MS-ESS2-1

Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth’s materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.

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Heat Island: https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/learn-about-heat-islands

Causes of Heat Islands

Heat islands form as a result of several factors:

Reduced Natural Landscapes in Urban Areas. Trees, vegetation, and water bodies tend to cool the air by providing shade, transpiring water from plant leaves, and evaporating surface water, respectively. Hard, dry surfaces in urban areas – such as roofs, sidewalks, roads, buildings, and parking lots – provide less shade and moisture than natural landscapes and therefore contribute to higher temperatures.

Urban Material Properties. Conventional human-made materials used in urban environments such as pavements or roofing tend to reflect less solar energy, and absorb and emit more of the sun’s heat compared to trees, vegetation, and other natural surfaces. Often, heat islands build throughout the day and become more pronounced after sunset due to the slow release of heat from urban materials.

Urban Geometry. The dimensions and spacing of buildings within a city influence wind flow and urban materials’ ability to absorb and release solar energy. In heavily developed areas, surfaces and structures obstructed by neighboring buildings become large thermal masses that cannot release their heat readily. Cities with many narrow streets and tall buildings become urban canyons, which can block natural wind flow that would bring cooling effects.

Heat Generated from Human Activities. Vehicles, air-conditioning units, buildings, and industrial facilities all emit heat into the urban environment. These sources of human-generated, or anthropogenic, waste heat can contribute to heat island effects.

Weather and Geography. Calm and clear weather conditions result in more severe heat islands by maximizing the amount of solar energy reaching urban surfaces and minimizing the amount of heat that can be carried away. Conversely, strong winds and cloud cover suppress heat island formation. Geographic features can also impact the heat island effect. For example, nearby mountains can block wind from reaching a city, or create wind patterns that pass through a city.

Characteristics of Heat Islands

Heat islands are usually measured by the temperature difference between cities relative to the surrounding areas. Temperature can also vary inside a city. Some areas are hotter than others due to the uneven distribution of heat-absorbing buildings and pavements, while other spaces remain cooler as a result of trees and greenery. These temperature differences constitute intra-urban heat islands. In the heat island effect diagram, urban parks, ponds, and residential areas are cooler than downtown areas.

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Heat Island

2-CS-02

6-8.CS.2 (California)

Design a project that combines hardware and software components to collect and exchange data.

2-DA-08

6-8.DA.8 (California)

Collect data using computational tools and transform the data to make it more useful.

6-8.IC.22 (California)

2-IC-22

Collaborate with many contributors through strategies such as crowdsourcing or surveys when creating a computational artifact.

2-DA-09

Refine computational models based on the data they have generated.

6-8.DA.9 (California)

Test and analyze the effects of changing variables while using computational models.

SLIDESMANIA.COM

Heat Island: https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/learn-about-heat-islands

Causes of Heat Islands

Heat islands form as a result of several factors:

Reduced Natural Landscapes in Urban Areas. Trees, vegetation, and water bodies tend to cool the air by providing shade, transpiring water from plant leaves, and evaporating surface water, respectively. Hard, dry surfaces in urban areas – such as roofs, sidewalks, roads, buildings, and parking lots – provide less shade and moisture than natural landscapes and therefore contribute to higher temperatures.

Urban Material Properties. Conventional human-made materials used in urban environments such as pavements or roofing tend to reflect less solar energy, and absorb and emit more of the sun’s heat compared to trees, vegetation, and other natural surfaces. Often, heat islands build throughout the day and become more pronounced after sunset due to the slow release of heat from urban materials.

Urban Geometry. The dimensions and spacing of buildings within a city influence wind flow and urban materials’ ability to absorb and release solar energy. In heavily developed areas, surfaces and structures obstructed by neighboring buildings become large thermal masses that cannot release their heat readily. Cities with many narrow streets and tall buildings become urban canyons, which can block natural wind flow that would bring cooling effects.

Heat Generated from Human Activities. Vehicles, air-conditioning units, buildings, and industrial facilities all emit heat into the urban environment. These sources of human-generated, or anthropogenic, waste heat can contribute to heat island effects.

Weather and Geography. Calm and clear weather conditions result in more severe heat islands by maximizing the amount of solar energy reaching urban surfaces and minimizing the amount of heat that can be carried away. Conversely, strong winds and cloud cover suppress heat island formation. Geographic features can also impact the heat island effect. For example, nearby mountains can block wind from reaching a city, or create wind patterns that pass through a city.

Characteristics of Heat Islands

Heat islands are usually measured by the temperature difference between cities relative to the surrounding areas. Temperature can also vary inside a city. Some areas are hotter than others due to the uneven distribution of heat-absorbing buildings and pavements, while other spaces remain cooler as a result of trees and greenery. These temperature differences constitute intra-urban heat islands. In the heat island effect diagram, urban parks, ponds, and residential areas are cooler than downtown areas.

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Integration - Practices

CCCs

Patterns
Cause and Effect
Scale Proportion and Quantity
Energy and Matter
Stability and Change

SEPs

Asking Questions
Developing and Using Models
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Using Mathematical and Computational Thinking

CS Practices

Fostering and Inclusive Computing Culture
Collaborating Around Computing
Creating Computational Artifacts
Recognizing and Defining Computational Problems
Developing and Using Abstractions

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Integration - Standards

NGSS DCI Concepts

ESS1.B Earth and the Solar System
ESS2.D Weather & Climate
ESS3.B Natural Hazards
PS3.A Definitions of Energy
PS4.A Wave Properties
PS4.B Electromagnetic Radiation

CS Core Concepts

Data and Analysis
Algorithms and Programming
Impacts of Computing
Network and the Internet (Transferring data, radio feature)

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Thank you!

Rudy Escobar

STEM and Computer Science Coordinator

rescobar@stancoe.org

@rudstemcs

https://bit.ly/microISTE24

@RudyChem

SLIDESMANIA.COM