DYW 2012 LilyPad Workshop Adventure

Back Row Volunteers: Patti McLetchie, Tameka Reeves, Sydnie Montgomery, Amy Pickup, Kim Knight, Meagan Dahl, Mary E Skinner, Desiree Jacob, Janet Montealvo // Photo: Lauren Von Eper

With a diverse set of fourth and fifth grade girls at the Design Your World Conference, the Etiquette team conducted its first LilyPad Workshop with nothing but success. We spent an hour and a half showing twenty amazing girls how fun prototyping with the LilyPad Arduino is.
A few bumps in the road provided for some fun (we had some random technical difficulties) but overall the girls were excited and interested in working with the LilyPad.

The etiquette team arrived in full force with ten ladies dedicating a decent chunk their Cinco De Mayo to helping the cause. Our volunteers were able to get the girls so pumped during a brain-storming session that when it came time to share, a raised hand was held by every girl in the room. We want to thank Design Your World for inviting us to participate in the conference; it was a great experience and we learned some valuable lessons.

During the session, we reviewed the history and steps for working with the LilyPad Arduino (craft, electronics, and code), asked the girls to think of ideas for sensors, actuators and projects, then gave them time to prototype the 'blinky' sketch with alligator clips. After filling out the surveys, the girls played with the take home kits. They figured out that if they put the LED on the battery properly, it would light up. What happened next was pretty amazing.

Lauren Von Eper was kind enough to take pictures:







Created with flickr slideshow.