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- Comments from Port Lincoln High School
Comments
from a School Teacher
Hello out
there
My name is
Gary Pelletier and I am a technology teacher at Port Lincoln High
School. I have been here for 4 ½ years now teaching Control technologies
(9-11), Electronics and robotics.
I would like to let you know about my work with the products of the good
people of eLabtronics in Adelaide, South Australia.
My students were recently working on producing a float for the yearly
Tunarama parade here in Port Lincoln. I towed the 3m round by 3m tall
tuna pen with a robotic tuna swimming inside. A fairly simple activity
if you have a degree in Mechanical and Electrical engineering. I don't.
We replaced the PC based control system which was prone to failure and
power problems with the single PICfun Microcontroller (30mm X 50mm). With
a bit of creative wiring that would have impressed an Italian Spaghetti
expert and lots of sweat we came up with a float that won "Most Original
Float"
This was a
good way to start the ball rolling and bring our school kids out of the
classroom and into the community.
All it took was a single micro and a couple of calls to eLabtronics
So how much further could I go?
During the following holidays I went directly to the people at
eLabtronics and shown them what could be done in a country school with
their product. Miro and Peng were extremely interested in not only what
I could do but what I could not do with the unit.
New
software - CoreChart icon based programming language
This was like the change from DOS to Windows or from Night to Day.
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This
software allowed the student to quickly create working programs. The
students were no longer required to learn complex languages or work
in a binary format.
A simple drag and drop system, this language was relatively easy to
teach and possessed a certain logic which was appealing to most
students.
Our second year focused on our classes manufacturing the PICFun2
replaced by more powerful elab628 training boards to create the new
interface panels that would serve as the training platforms for the
younger students. |
This worked
great and was easy to do as we started with the LEDFun to train the
students in soldering.
This board provided the ability to simulate many activities without the
need for other expensive add on's.
This year I was finally given a small amount of money from the PAC to
invest in control technologies. I called on all the providers of such
equipment to provide quotes on how I would like my classroom to
function.
All the companies involved provided quotes. Most of the companies
forwarded the quotes with what they believed the "standard" classroom
setup. The prices varied from $4300 to almost $10,000 and this generally
disregarded what I wanted to teach and only provided for limited amounts
of equipment. Some were quite offended when I told them they were not
competitive.
eLabtronics handled the problem differently, the first question was
"What do you want to be able to do with your kids"
I sent them a list of various activities including:
* A computer controlled Dragstrip made from slot cars
* A model home with alarms, solar panels, auto lighting and doors
* Boards configured to run Lego/Knex model robots for a "Robot war"
* I/R based timing systems (various uses)
* I/R control modules to act as remote controls
* 10 prototyping boards for general classroom use (rugged)
* 5 external project prototyping boards
* A robotic arm
* And the software to run it on 10 computers
Five days
later I received a quote for $3200 with added bonuses
The boards
that I would get would be the more advanced and twice as powerful
elab628 and…
Miro, the chief engineer from this company would come to my home in Port
Lincoln and help me set up my classroom and all of the learning
activities.
I did not think this was possible (you cannot purchase this type of
service anywhere!)
Combined with all this was the promise that anytime I require any
technical assistance that I may call or email them and they will
immediately provide it.
After Miro's visit to Port Lincoln things progressed very quickly.
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For the
first few weeks I worked from a course provided by eLabtronics. The
course was designed around more advanced learners and proved to be
difficult for the younger student. Overall the students were able to
exceed my abilities quickly.
To that end I began to re-write the booklet into a more simplified
"schools booklet". While not complete the booklet has assisted many
of the slower learners. This project will continually be in revision
as technology constantly changes although eLabtronics will be able
to provide it to teachers in a completed form soon. |
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In the first 5
weeks I have been able to employ several activities other than the
program training.
In the end I would like to say that the elab628/CoreChart combination
has provided my classroom with very advanced learning tools within the
budgetary limitations of a country school and the educational
limitations of the average tech teacher.
The level of support from eLabtronics has been unequalled in my
experiences and this has opened many avenues of education to both me and
my students. The combination of industrial standard hardware and easy to
use software has made it so children are already applying that knowledge
in the community.
Real applications are now being employed by my students in the
Aquaculture industry which has caused that industry to improve
performance, reduce costs and financially support our school.
Gary Pelletier
Port Lincoln High School, South Australia
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