Measure
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What is the Measure Activity ? (Introduction)
The Measure Activity is a tool on the XO that allows kids to indulge in "learning by doing". It provides an interface for the kids to connect with the physical world and an opportunity to view and understand through a visual and statistical representation of the physical phenomena.
Using the Measure Activity, one can -
- Connect sensors (light, heat, magnetic field etc) and view their signal. Thus it is possible to view and study physical phenomena
- Input voltages and signals into the XO laptop and use it as an oscilloscope and
- Log data at a specified interval and store and retrieve waveforms
Learning Activities
Introduction
Children learn by doing things. It is said "Give a child a hammer, and the world becomes his nails". This activity is a tool that allows kids to express their curiosity. It is a tool that allows kids to explore and learn by doing, by connecting and observing, span physical phenomena and real world events.
Activity activities (hands on learning activities)
- Record animal sounds , for example, sounds of birds and observe their waveforms. Which of these are high frequency sounds, which are the low frequency ones ? Adjust the frequency sliders accordingly.
- Whistle into the mic and compare the loudness and frequency of whistles by observing the waveforms.
- Get two people to try to whistle the same note, and look into Beat Frequencies.
- Turn the sensitivity slider up to the maximum and observe ambient noise - in a quiet room, near a noisy road
- Measure the voltage of an AA size pencil cell. What settings do you use ? AC or DC ?
- Measure resistance of water , other liquids
- Log temperature using a temperature sensor at one hour intervals. When in the day is it the hottest ? The coldest ?
- Some very interesting sensor ideas given by Arnans Roger , see - http://padthai.media.mit.edu:8080/cocoon/gogosite/documentation/makingSensors.xsp?lang=en
Downloading the Activity
Please visit the download page to download the latest stable and unstable releases of the Activity.
Let's measure Temperature ( Featured activity of the month )
Getting started
The software
Input
- One can connect sensors/give input voltage through the pink Mic jack on the left side of the display screen.
Graph The green moving line Grid and background Slider on the right Measure Toolbar Log Toolbar
Connecting Sensors
Getting involved
Educators
Software developers
Help is needed from volunteers from Python developers. Please visit this page to find out details. If you have experience in writing optimized Python code, please leave a note on the discussion tab of this page and someone will get in touch with you.
Hardware enthusiasts
Do interesting hardware projects around the XO. Visit the Measure hardware page to learn more. You might also want to see the projects page.
A note about safety
SAFETY FIRST!
- Make measurements of AC line voltages with the proper equipment only -- for example, a multimeter designed for the purpose. The laptop is not a multimeter.
- Read the following article. If you don't know what you are doing or are unsure, don't do it. Electricity can be dangerous.
Future plans
- Comparison of many graphs
- Sharing of the graphs
- Analog Input support into TamTam jam
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Mitch Bradley and John Watlington for their help and suggestions during the development of the Activity.
Contact
Contact Arjun Sarwal through -
Email : arjun@laptop.org
IRC : arjs on #olpc #sugar
Elements of the Measure activity
- There is an 1150 X 800 pixel window in which one sees the waveform. There is a light grey colored grid in the background which is like the scale.
- Measure Toolbar which allows one to switch between AC and DC modes, toggle Bias Voltage On/Off, view waveform in time domain or frequency domain, select frequency range display, and be able to pause the waveform on the screen.
- A Log Toolbar which allows one to select the data logging interval, start and stop the logging, and display the log.
Measure Projects
Please see the Measure Projects page to have a look at projects around Measure