Data Logging has often been a source of worry to many teachers who can struggle with the hardware. If the school has some specific resources, they may also struggle with the software and it can be simply just messy as there is unlikely to be enough equipment to go round, etc.
Whilst looking at Science resources, I came across a place that sells temperature probes (iCelcius – used for cooking on BBQs!) that plug into an iPad or phone and offer continuous graphing, as well as digital readouts of temperature.
“The iCelsius is a temperature probe that turns the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch into a digital thermometer.” It can be purchased from : https://www.icelsius.com/. It is 59 euros but allows masses of data logging activities. The features it offers are:
- Live Display – shows useful temperature data in one shot
- Graphs – with pan and zoom touch support
- Alarms – Generate alarms when temperature goes outside a configurable (lower and/or upper) limit.
- Snapshot Record – Ability to record a single reading, along with title, picture and note.
- Continuous Record – Ability to continuously record readings as well as to add notes, take a picture and drop a pin on the graph.
- History – Access all your previous records.
To measure sound with an iPad – use something like dB ABCD
Would you like to know how loud the classroom, or playground is?
What about wet playtime? With Decibel Ultra the children can monitor it exactly!
Decibel Ultra measures the volume and helps you to figure out how the noise level compares at any given time to normal classroom noise etc.
Decibel Ultra measures the sound pressure level (SPL) in dB professional frequency.
To measure sound on Android devices use the Audio Frequency Counter
To measure Light on an iPad use something like the Lumu Light Meter App. It is free and looks good; or alternatively. the Pocket Light Meter App.
To measure light on an Android device have a look at the Light Meter App.
Barefoot Computing has a freely available set of resources for science. You only have to sign up, select your school in order to get the resources. This is a massive set of computer activities designed to meet the current National Curriculum. They have a sound activity listed: making a sound monitor using Scratch:
https://barefootcas.org.uk/sdm_downloads/classroom-sound-monitor-activity/