Materials
- Notebook/laptop with speakers, or tablet with corresponding cable and Wi-Fi connection
- Makey Makey kit
- Web-based application scratch.mit.edu
- Various vegetables/fruits
Implementation
Discuss the different materials together with the children and present them briefly. The web-based application Scratch is opened. The application can be used with and without account.
Next, the “Develop” field is selected. The tutorial can be closed for this application.
Under the globe, the language of the application can be change if required.
Select the block “When space key is pressed” under Events and drag and drop it into the programming interface.
Next, under Sound, the block “Play sound Miau” is selected. This block is dragged under the block “When space key is pressed”. These connect like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. This procedure is now repeated four times, so that in the end there are five such small programming blocks. With four programming blocks, clicking on the space key intem in the “When space key is pressed” block now always select a different function of the keyboard.
In the menu under the tab “Sound”, four additional sounds can be added in the lower area (speaker). After adding, the system switches back to the Skripe tab.
In the block “Play sound Miau”, the corresponding sound for the respective key is now selected by clicking on the point Miau.
Connect the Makey Makey circuit board to the notebook (via USB). Connect one end of the crocodile clips to the Makey Makey (arrows and space). These later replace the keyboard of the notebook.
A crocodile clip is connected to one end as earth. The other ends of the crocodile clis can be inserted into five different pieces of vegetables.
One child holds the other end of the crocodile clip, which is connected to the earth. Now this child can make different sounds by touching the pieces of vegetables.
Preparation
This activity can be carried out in small groups (six children, age five plus). The other children in the group can observe the action, later of course they take turns.
Please don’t eat the vegetables after using them in this experiment, because the process produces toxic substances! The vegetables must be discarded immediately after the experiment!
Variation
The vegetable pieces can, for instance, also be replaced by flowers which are lying in water.
Reflection
Reflect the meaning of different building elements and the structure of a simple electrical circuit.
Which meaning have those elements and the electrical circuit for the robots?
What would be “healthier” for a robot: electrical circuit or vegetables which were used in the activity?
Was the programming with Blockly necessary for our activity?
How can we get more different sounds?
Can our body be a music instrument too?
The project "I'm not a Robot: working with artificial intelligence in early childhood education" is co-funded by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union. The European Commission´s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflect views only of the authors. The commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
This work is licensed under: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
