It all started with a conversation on a drive home from school.

Ed Elser’s son Rockwell is part of a Lego League robotics team at North Augusta Middle School, and his 15-year-old daughter Melinda happened to say, “I wish that had been there when I was there.”

A founding member of theClubhou.se, Elser said, “Well, we can make it happen.”

That’s how the class “Learning Arduino With Melinda” got started. Arduino is an open-source electronics platform that’s the basis for many interactive projects, featuring easy-to-use hardware and software ideal for those who are new to coding, but flexible enough for advanced users.

During the five-week class, girls in the 7th grade or higher will learn alongside Melinda and her dad as they walk through how to load and manipulate Arduino sketches into the computer interface. The five weeks will end with a display, mounted in an enclosure, that will randomly display inspiration messages programmed by the students. Students will also take the boards home with them at the completion of the course.

The class has eight slots available and meets on Tuesdays from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at theClubhou.se, 540 Telfair St., starting on Jan. 3. Registration is open now; the class is free to theClubhou.se members and $100 for non-members. Scholarships are also available.
 
Sessions will feature the following:

Day One, 1/3: Learn how to connect the Arduino to the computer, and how to get it talking to the computer interface or IDE. Load and play with manipulating the Blink sketch.

Day Two, 1/10: Learn what the Arduino can do, including the sketch that will be used to display random messages on a two-line LCD display.

Day Three, 1/17: Connect the two -ine LCD display to the Arduino, and program it to display the test message in the sketch.

Day Four, 1/24: Program the Arduino to display random inspirational messages, and mount the board in an enclosure.

Day Five, 1/31: Complete any final tasks.

To sign up, visit: http://theclubhou.se/events/learning-arduino-with-melinda-2017-01-03/.