Warwick High School (WHS) teacher Jeffrey Wile wanted to help his students connect the coding they were learning to real-time data with the goal of stretching imaginations and encouraging creative problem solving. Warwick Education Foundation (WEF), which contributes more than $200,000 a year to enhance the Warwick School District (WSD) education experience, helped Wile achieve that dream by funding Phidget kits for his students.
Phidgets are electronic devices designed for specific tasks that enable a software application to interact with the physical world. In Wile's classroom, this means students use Phidgets to collect, interpret, and transmit data. Phidgets can also be used to power a rover, a classroom-sized version of the rover that NASA uses to explore the terrain of Mars. Each rover is controlled by a student programming the computer app and learning how to use software to solve problems.
Students have programmed the rovers to avoid crashing into furniture as they navigate the classroom floor. When coded correctly, a scanner on the top of the rover detects the distance to a wall or object. Once the rover reaches a prescribed distance, it turns automatically to avoid a crash.
Wile explained that in addition to sonar detection, Phidgets can sense light, temperature, sound, speed, and dimensional movement. These attributes mean students can use the Phidgets for real-world application such as detecting the amount of light being used in the classroom to program the lights to turn on and off for more efficient and economical usage. "Writing software is an important skill my students gain," said Wile, "but being able to collect real information and write software that can solve a problem - that's huge."
WEF, which is now celebrating its 25th anniversary, has given more than $2.5 million to aid in WSD's education programs since its founding. Funding for the 2021-22 school year includes 21 grants being implemented by more than 50 teachers. More information about WEF may be found at https://warwickef.org.
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