SenseHat Weather Sensor
One of our main endeavors this trimester was learning to code in Python, a robust programming language. To help us accomplish this goal, we used Raspberry Pis and SenseHats. Raspberry Pis are mini computers, and using them made it easier for us to see what is really going on inside of our computers; with all of the components visible, we could clearly see how a monitor, keyboard, and mouse are connected to a processor, and the computer memory records all of the programs that we write. The SenseHat sits on top of the Raspberry Pi and connects environmental sensors and an LED matrix to the mini computer.
We began our Python work by learning to code the LED matrix on the SenseHat. This involved learning about basic coding principles like functions, definitions, and loops, as well as the scientific principles of light and color. We took what we learned and program the 8x8 matrix into a logo of our own design, which you can see in the gallery on the right!
We also wrote programs to record weather data around the school using the SenseHat’s pressure, temperature, and humidity sensors. We left our programs, which were designed to take data every few hours, running over spring break. When we got back to school, everyone had unique data to look at which showed the weather at and around the school over the course of a week. We learned about mean, median, and mode, and used this knowledge to analyze our data!
We then compiled all of this information into a weather infographic showing the weather around Meridian during Spring Break. Check them out below!
