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ALL MAKE GUIDES


  1. Security Zone
  2. Ultrasonic Drum
  3. Resistor Piano
  4. Walker Race
  5. Walker Dance
  6. Walker Detect
  7. Runaway Rover
  8. Rover Sensor Steering

  1. Lighthouse
  2. Frog Frenzy
  3. Game Controller
  4. Minecraft Controller

  1. Security Zone
  2. Ultrasonic Drum
  3. Resistor Piano
  4. Ther-Mood-Stat
  5. Color Coded
  6. Pulse

  1. Beam Break
  2. Car Race
  3. Motion Ball

  1. Solar House
  2. Soil Sensor
  3. Air Guitar

  1. Light Show
  2. Light Show Animation

PIPER MAKE

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Base expedition

Mission 4 of 10

Base expedition: Mission 4 of 14

Reaction Game


Intermediate

1 hr

Grades 3 - 8
MISSION OBJECTIVE

Learn to build and code a circuit that can count how many times you press a button.

In this project, students will build a counter using a variable. The counter records how many times a button is pressed. Tally represents a common way that a score is kept in a video game.

View student interface at make.playpiper.com
MISSION CHARACTERS

Piperbot

Pip
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the Cast
  Print Educator Guide   Student Worksheet    Student Quiz    Support
MISSION MATERIALS
MISSION RESOURCES Learning Goals Career Connections Hardware Diagram Tutorial Steps Blueprint Troubleshooting Tips
EXPEDITION RESOURCES Helpful Links Vocabulary Words Material Library Standards Alignment
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MISSION MATERIALS

Computer with USB port and Chrome or Edge browser
Piper Make Base Station or Starter Kit
MISSION RESOURCES

Learning Goals

  1. Students will build a tactile button that completes a circuit when pressed.
  2. Students will use variables and loops to create a program that records the number of times someone pushes the button.
  3. Students will integrate skills related to knowledge about variables, conditionals, and debugging in the same project.

Career Connections

Software Developer: Salary $127,260/yr
Electrical Engineer: Salary $127,260/yr
Data Scientist: Salary $103,500/yr
Construction Manager: Salary $101,480/yr

Hardware Diagram

Tutorial Steps

Blueprint

DOWNLOAD BLUEPRINT

Have an different version? Look for more information on the Support Page.

Troubleshooting Tips

  • Q: Is the button press not registering?
  • A: Look at the Digital View when you press the button while the code runs. If you see no change, push the button into the breadboard forcefully (but carefully) to make sure the leads connect with the rails on the breadboard.
  • Q: What does “LOW when pulled UP” mean?
  • A: This generally refers to pull-up or pull-down resistor circuits. In this case, this allows the signal to be rounded UP to the binary TRUE when the button is pushed, and the circuit is complete.

Our customer support specialists are on hand to ensure your implementation of Piper runs seamlessly.
View Support Docs or Contact Support
Base EXPEDITION RESOURCES
  • Explanation of Pull Up and Pull Down
    What are Pull-Up and Pull-Down Resistors? Read this overview to learn more.
  • Google Teachable Machine
    A fast, easy way to create machine learning models for your sites, apps, and more – no expertise or coding required.
  • The Artificial Intelligence (AI) for K-12 initiative
    The initiative is developing national guidelines for AI education for K-12, an online, curated resource Directory to facilitate AI instruction, and a community of practitioners, researchers, resource and tool developers focused on the AI for K-12 audience.

Vocabulary Words

Circuit A conductive path for flow of current or electricity

Power The current or flow of electric charge and voltage

Microcontroller An integrated circuit that contains a microprocessor along with memory and associated circuits

Loops A sequence of instruction s that is continually repeated until a certain condition is reached

Variables A value that can change, depending on conditions or on information passed to the program

Input Device A hardware device that sends data to a computer, allowing interaction and control

Output Device A piece of hardware which converts information into a human-perceptible form

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Material Library

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Standards Alignment


CSTA Framework   Base Kit Standards Alignment
ISTE Framework   Base Kit Standards Alignment
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