If you are an educator using my Physical Computing & Robotics textbooks in your classrooms, check out my new and complete INTEGRATED curriculum for you and some handouts and worksheets for your students.
Contents:
- Appendix E.1. The Complete Classroom Curriculum
- Appendix E.2. Supplemental Classroom Handouts and Datasets
- Appendix E.3. Student Worksheets for the Challenge Problems
- Appendix E.4. Answer Keys to the Challenge Problems
* The downloads below are available in a variety of formats, including Microsoft Word (DOC), MS Excel (XLS), MS PowerPoint (PPT), Portable Document Format (PDF), or Comma-Delimited Text (CSV). The MS Office versions and CSV files are easy to edit, and instructors should feel free to download these documents and alter them to suit their needs. The PDF versions are available for those who do not have access to MS Office, or who wish to use the documents as is.
Appendix E.1. The Complete Classroom Curriculum
One of the things that separates these programming and robotics textbooks from the many self-help technical manuals and online tutorials, is that my books contain a complete and integrated educational curriculum, designed specifically for high school and college classrooms. A copy of this full curriculum, including the assigned problems for my Physical Computing & Robotics classes can be downloaded here:
The above document contains classroom assignments and projects for students enrolled in my Physical Computing & Robotics (PC&R) classes at George School in Newtown, PA, USA. This new, integrated curriculum interlaces the learning of programming, design, electronics, and robotics throughout the first 20-22 weeks of the course. This new, integrated curriculum jumps back and forth through both volumes of the Physical Computing & Robotics textbooks, allowing students to experience the more hands-on, engineering components of the course (e.g., electronics, robotics, and design) as early as possible.
In my older, more traditional curriculum, students had to fully cover all of the basics of C-language programming covered in Volume One before they were permitted to explore Volume Two topics of electronics, sensors, data acquisition, actuators, and robotics. (What was I thinking!?!) My new, integrated curriculum is much less sequential in nature, allowing students to get a taste of both coding and engineering robotics early in the school year.
Introduced in 2018, this integrated curriculum has many benefits over the previous traditional (chronological) curriculum, including:
- The topics are covered more quickly, keeping things fresh.
- Hands-on activities involving real-world objects are introduced much earlier in the year.
- Students do not burnout on months of endless programming. (Some students prefer physical and mechanical tasks to more cerebral coding tasks.)
- Programming concepts are reinforced as topics are re-covered throughout the year.
- Students who are partial to programming are happy, as are students who prefer hands-on, mechanical tasks.
Most assignments involve reading some portion of a chapter in the textbooks and solving some of the Challenge Problems, which are found at the end of each chapter. The due date for our students for each assignment is somewhat flexible because ours is a student-driven, self-directed course, allowing students to follow a pace that suits their needs and interests. We do, however, set a minimum required speed to prevent students from dawdling.
Students should endeavor to complete one chapter per week. Some of the more complex material will require more time, and some of the less complex material will require less time. Adhering to this timeline will permit students to spend all ten weeks of Term 3 on their independent final projects!
Appendix E.2. Supplemental Classroom Handouts and Datasets
The classroom handouts and datasets that are described in this section are meant as a supplement to the textbooks. They provide further explanations of the textbook material and are also a handy way for students to record details about the devices they use in the classroom. These datasets and handouts are continually being developed and updated, so check back often for updates and new materials.
Feel free to download and use the resources below in your own classes.
Programming Resources
- Periodic Table Data TRIMMED for Ch 12 on Arrays { XLS | CSV } (source: www.kaggle.com/jwaitze/tablesoftheelements/)
- Periodic Table Data FULL for Ch 12 on Arrays { XLS } (source: www.kaggle.com/jwaitze/tablesoftheelements/)
- Automobile Data TRIMMED for Ch 12 Arrays { XLS } (sources: www.kaggle.com/CooperUnion/cardataset, www.cars-data.com, www.fueleconomy.gov, twitter.com/edmunds)
- Automobile Data FULL for Ch 12 Arrays { XLS } (sources: www.kaggle.com/CooperUnion/cardataset, twitter.com/edmunds)
- Solar System Mass and Radius Data (semicolon delimited) for Ch 12 on Arrays { CSV } (source: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/)
- Solar System Data FULL (semicolon delimited) for Ch 12 on Arrays { CSV } (source: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/)
- Countries Factbook (semicolon delimited) for Ch 12 Arrays { CSV } (source: perso.telecom-paristech.fr/eagan/class/igr204/datasets)
- Annual Estimates of the USA Resident Population for Ch 12 on Arrays { XLS } (source: www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2010s-state-total.html)
Design Resources
- Laser Cutter Tutorials for Students {
DOC | PDF } - How to 3D Print at George School {
DOC | PDF } - Hole and peg sample sizes for 3D printing { PDF }
- SketchUp Quick Reference Card { PDF }
Robotics Resources
Teachers are encouraged to contact the author at chris@pcrduino.com if they wish to submit their own handouts for publication on this website.
(If you are looking for worksheets specifically for the Challenge Problems at the end of each chapter, you should check out the next section of this appendix.)
Final Project (Open House) Resources
- Open House Details plus Project Ideas, Sensors, and Devices {
DOC | PDF } - Final Robotics Projects Power Point Template {PPT}
Appendix E.3. Student Worksheets for the Challenge Problems
Another thing that separates my textbooks from the many non-sequential hobby manuals and quick tutorials, is that my book contains hundreds of Challenge Problems, which are found at the end of each chapter of my text.
A number of these problems require the student to predict the outcome of some computer algorithm or record their answers on paper, rather than typing them into a computer code. To this end, I have created a number of student worksheets for these chapters, which make it easy for students to record their predictions and for teachers to grade them.
Feel free to download and use the worksheets below in your own classes.
Volume 1 Worksheets
- Vol 1 Chapter 3 – ALL Challenge Problem Prediction Worksheet
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 1 Chapter 3 – INTERMEDIATE Challenge Problem Prediction Worksheet
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 1 Chapter 3 – INTENSIVE Challenge Problem Prediction Worksheet
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 1 Chapter 9 – INTERMEDIATE Challenge Problem Prediction Worksheet No Select-Case
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 1 Chapter 9 – INTENSIVE Challenge Problem Prediction Worksheet No Select-Case
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 1 Chapter 9 – INTERMEDIATE Challenge Problem Prediction Worksheet
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 1 Chapter 9 – INTENSIVE Challenge Problem Prediction Worksheet
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 1 Chapter 10 – Challenge Problem Prediction Worksheet no If-Then
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 1 Chapter 10 – Challenge Problem Prediction Worksheet
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 1 Chapter 11 – Challenge Problem Prediction Worksheet
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 1 Chapter 11 – INTERMEDIATE Challenge Problem Prediction Worksheet No If-Then
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 1 Chapter 11 – INTENSIVE Challenge Problem Prediction Worksheet No If-Then
{ DOC | PDF }
Volume 2 Worksheets
- Vol 2 Chapter 15 – Challenge Problem Worksheet
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 2 Chapter 16 – Challenge Problem Worksheet
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 2 Chapter 17 – Challenge Problem Worksheet
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 2 Chapter 18 – Challenge Problem Worksheet
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 2 Chapter 19 – Challenge Problem Worksheet
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 2 Chapter 20 – INTERMEDIATE Challenge Problem Worksheet
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 2 Chapter 20 – INTENSIVE Challenge Problem Worksheet
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 2 Chapter 21 – ALL Challenge Problems Worksheet
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 2 Chapter 21 – Challenge Problem Worksheet
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 2 Chapter 21 – Quantitative Data Analysis Worksheet
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 2 Chapters 21 and 22 – MESSING AROUND WITH SENSORS Worksheet
{ DOC | PDF } - Vol 2 Chapter 22 – Challenge Problem Worksheet
{ DOC | PDF }
Teachers are encouraged to contact the author for the answer key for these and other Challenge Problems at chris@pcrduino.com.
Appendix E.3. Answer Keys to the Challenge Problems
Until the Solution Manuals for the Challenge Problems from the Physical Computing & Robotics textbooks are published, I encourage teachers to contact me for the answer keys to these end-of-the-chapter problems. You can do so at chris@pcrduino.com.
In the interest of fairness, please provide proof that you are, in fact, a teacher and not one of your industrious – yet misguided – pupils seeking an unfair advantage. One form of proof might be a link to the faculty directory from your school.