Imagine giving a group of middle school students a toy train that moves along a track at a steady speed. Ask them: “How can I make this toy more interesting?” Students might think they could control the train to stop at the station or drive it forward and backward. Students love to alter and reinvent toys and games for creative exploration.
I believe in helping children to feel confident about their capabilities. Hardware hacking allows me to do this by providing learners with existing technologies, encouraging them to deconstruct/repurpose, improve, and then re-create. Host a hackathon in your school to give students the chance to solve creative STEM problems.
What is Hacking?
Hackathons allow students to work together for short periods of time to create a working prototype. Hackathons allow students to engage in hands-on and experiential learning. This is in contrast to traditional project-based learning (PBL). Hackathons, unlike PBL assignments, are very short. Students only have hours (or maybe days) to complete a challenge. Some students pay someone to do my homework, but most of them learn new skills quickly because they are under pressure. Hackathons provide students with the opportunity to learn while they work, and the ultimate goal is to produce a functional prototype of hardware that meets the challenge.
Hacking a toy train
Students from Hong Kong’s various schools took on the challenge to redesign a train. They were given code templates and wiring diagrams to support their work.
I was one of the mentors. My students were between 10-12 years old. They had to wire and assemble the components. My team chose an Arduino board to control their train’s movement via Bluetooth. Arduino is a microcontroller or development board that is about the same size as a credit card. It is capable of reading inputs like a light, a finger on the button, or a tweet and turning those inputs into an output, activating a motor, turning off an LED, or publishing an article online.
Students who I was working with deconstructed the train to get a better understanding of its internal workings. This helped them to wire the train properly. The Arduino was then connected to an additional wire and other electrical components, allowing the train to move in various directions. This is a tricky step for students as the rewiring sometimes fails on the first or third attempt.
The achievement of this step was a significant step towards two bigger goals: getting students used to failure and teaching them how they can debug, which are both essential skills for makers.
I tried not to interrupt. My role is to supervise and ensure the safety of hackathon participants as they use tools like soldering irons or screwdrivers.
It was a moment of joy for all involved when the students were capable of successfully channel power into the board. After hacking the hardware they had to find a new way of interacting with the electronics. I guided them to use Unity, an open-source game engine created by Unity Technologies, to create a mobile interface.
The competition didn’t award the first prize to our team, but the students had a lot of fun and received positive feedback from all judges. Hacking provided them with the opportunity to learn about the workings and technology behind any product. STEM-related courses can benefit from students having a maker mindset.
Students can still be mentored by teachers with no technical background. Speaking skills are just as important in hackathon competitions as coding skills. Host an event like this at school. The world needs more creators.
varsha 
samanvya