Plant Monitoring with micro:bit Sensors

1. Give students access to their individual slide deck (included in lesson materials). This Google Slides presentation will be their learning diary for this project.
2. Briefly introduce the project to the class. Give a quick overview of what will be expected throughout the five class periods for the activity:
3. Inquiry: Researching plants to learn their needs and responses to environmental factors.
4. Planning: Sketch designs for pots, considering features necessary for plant growth
5. CAD Design: Implement chosen design in CAD software, accounting for dimensions and all features
6. Sensor Logic: Develop a framework for what information is needed and how to communicate it
7. Programming: Building MakeCode program for micro:bit sensor to communicate essential information
8. Reflection: Test project and reflect on the effectiveness of the designs
9. Introduce today’s task. Students should be focussed today on finding an easily procurable and relatively low-maintenance plant (herb, succulent, etc.), and researching its specific environmental needs. What are its ideal conditions? They should consider:
10. Sunlight level
11. Temperature
12. Soil moisture level
13. Frequency of watering/drainage
14. Pot size
15. Students will record their research findings in their learning diary. This will be the reference they will be using for their designs for both their pots and sensors.

1. Introduce today’s task. Students should use this class period to analyse the plant needs that they assessed in the previous class and to convert them into workable designs for the plant’s pot.
2. Important details that the students should consider include:
3. The amount of space the plant needs for root growth (diameter and depth of the pot)
4. Number of drainage holes (how much moisture does the plant’s soil need to retain?)
5. Stability (what factors can affect the pot’s balance? how can you ensure that it remains upright?)
6. Pot location (how much light does the plant need? could that affect how the pot should be designed?)
7. Aesthetics
8. After presenting their three sketches, they should develop the design ideas into a final design, with justifications for design choices. Their initial and chosen designs should be recorded in their learning diary.

1. Introduce today’s task. Students should use this period to familiarise themselves with TinkerCAD and how to use geometric solids, dimensioning, and extrusion, and to create a 3D design for their pot, using the design elements established in the previous period.
2. Provide a brief lesson demonstration of 3D CAD design. Throughout the year, students should have previous experience with TinkerCAD and 3D design, but briefly review how to use sketch layers, extrusion, three-dimensional solids, and holes.
3. In their learning diary, students should record justifications for their adaptations from the initial design to the 3D print file, including how drainage was addressed and how they considered the requirements of their plant’s size and shape.
4. Students may also be provided a .STL file containing a housing for their micro:bit sensor, and implement that within the structure of their pot.
5. When complete, students will export their designs as a .STL file and place them in the 3D printer queue. This may require manual teacher approval.

1. Introduce today’s task. The primary focus of this period is to determine which sensors are most necessary for the healthy growth of their chosen plant, and how the information should be communicated. After they have established their goals and logic, they should write block code in MakeCode to accomplish them.
2. Students should have an intermediate understanding of micro:bit programming at this point. During this class, you should introduce more advanced concepts in coding, including:
3. loops, which they can use to collect data at regular intervals
4. radio, which they can use to communicate between two micro:bits
5. arrays, which they can use to collect and transmit sets of data
6. serial, which they can use to communicate between micro:bits and their computers or iPads
7. Provide examples of use for each of the above (included in slides, but you can also give a live demonstration)
8. Students will record their logic and a screenshot of their code in their learning diary.

Link to sample code included in slides

Link to more advanced complete code example