Raspberry Pi: Texas considers Mac-and-Cheese a vegetable

What a week! SXSWedu has expanded my horizons through thoughtful discourse with colleagues, inspirational keynote speakers, and new technologies for the classroom. Not only did the conference encourage me to step out of my comfort zone and perform a rap with professional artists, but also provided strategies on how to incorporate hands-on learning, improv, and ethics into my lessons. My definition of project-based-learning has once again been expanded with new approaches for creating student generated videos as well as programming Raspberry Pi.

Raspberry Pi 4 is an affordable single-board computer ($40) that students can easily build and program for practical applications in the classroom. The demonstration incorporated how to use Raspberry Pi to operate lighting and water control systems in a classroom hydroponic system. Currently, Morse students successfully operate a variety of systems that  grow food in an aquatic environment, however this tool will allow me to bring my current curriculum to a new level by incorporating remote sensing technology.

Furthermore, panels of college educators, engineers, and industry professionals are urging middle and secondary schools to introduce students to single-board computers. Higher education is taking this basic software/hardware knowledge to build personal sensors. Personal sensors are the next generation of data collection and are considered the “ultimate electronic tattoo.” Medical professionals are using sticker-like sensors to scan bio-metrics of patients, monitor athletic potential, and administer medication for both short and long-term applications.