🤖 Robotics Club

1. Activity Overview

In this activity, students will learn how to control an LED using an Arduino board. They will build a simple circuit and write a short program that makes the LED turn ON and OFF repeatedly.

2. Learning Objectives

By the end of the activity, students should be able to:

• Identify an LED and its basic components.
• Identify the Arduino board and its digital pins.
• Understand the concept of digital ON/OFF output.
• Connect an LED safely to an Arduino.
• Upload a simple Arduino program.
• Explain how a program controls a physical device.

3. Research Before the Activity

Core Concepts

• Arduino
• LED
• Digital Output
• GPIO / Digital Pin
• Resistor
• Electrical Circuit
• Program → Controller → Output

Expected Learner Understanding

Students aged 6–11 should primarily understand the relationship between instructions and physical action. Advanced electronics theory is not required at this stage.

Likely Misconceptions

• An LED can be connected in any direction.
• The Arduino itself is the LED.
• A program can work without a physical circuit.
• The LED stays ON forever after the command is executed.
• The delay value is unrelated to the blinking speed.

4. Materials Required

5. Safety Precautions ⚠️

6. Know Your LED

An LED (Light Emitting Diode) produces light when electric current flows through it in the correct direction.

7. Circuit Connection

Connect the components as follows:

8. Arduino Program

void setup() {
    pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
    digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
    delay(1000);

    digitalWrite(13, LOW);
    delay(1000);
}

9. Understand the Program

10. Activity Procedure

1. Place the Arduino and breadboard on the work table.
2. Identify the LED, resistor, jumper wires and Arduino pins.
3. Build the LED circuit according to the connection plan.
4. Connect the Arduino to the computer using the USB cable.
5. Open the Arduino IDE.
6. Enter the Blink program.
7. Select the appropriate Arduino board and port.
8. Verify/compile the program.
9. Upload the program to the Arduino.
10. Observe the LED.
11. Confirm that the LED turns ON and OFF repeatedly.

11. Explore & Investigate 🔎

Change the program and observe what happens.

Challenge 1 — Faster Blink

Change:

delay(1000);

to:

delay(200);

What happens?

Challenge 2 — Slower Blink

Try:

delay(2000);

How does the LED behave?

Challenge 3 — Create Your Own Pattern

Can you make the LED blink twice quickly and then remain OFF for two seconds?

12. Differentiated Learning

13. Computational Thinking

This activity introduces several important computational ideas:

• Sequence: ON → wait → OFF → wait.
• Iteration: the loop() function repeats the sequence.
• Parameter: the delay value controls timing.
• Debugging: students identify and correct wiring or code errors.
• Abstraction: a few lines of code control a physical device.

14. Assessment

15. Quick Questions

1. What is an LED?
2. What is the purpose of a resistor?
3. What does pinMode() do?
4. What is the purpose of digitalWrite()?
5. What does delay(1000) mean?
6. Why is the code inside loop() repeated?
7. What happens if the delay is reduced?

16. Student Reflection

Tick (✓) the statements that apply to you:

☐ I can identify an LED and resistor.

☐ I can identify Arduino digital pins.

☐ I understand ON and OFF as digital output states.

☐ I can explain what digitalWrite() does.

☐ I can explain the purpose of delay().

☐ I can modify the blink speed.

☐ I can troubleshoot a simple LED circuit.

17. Extension Challenge 🚀

18. Teacher Reflection

• Were students able to identify the components?
• Could students explain the ON/OFF concept?
• Which students required help with circuit connections?
• Could students modify the delay value independently?
• What should be reinforced in the next robotics session?