I live in India. I do not have a Raspi.
My wish is to set up a small lab in a school where young kids can play with Raspberry Pi kits and learn and build little projects.
What I want to know from people in this forurm is what should I buy and provide to start off this lab.? There will be a teacher who will need one set plus some other items, I'm sure and then there will be 4-5 students
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pksengupta
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Mon Feb 03, 2014 12:37 pm
Re: Pi Lab Requirements
For each Pi here's what I recommend:
1) The Raspberry Pi Model B
2) 8 GB SD card with NOOBs
3) 1.2 Amp, 5V power supply w/ micro USB Male plug
4) Generic keyboard
5) Generic Mouse
6) HDMI cable + Cheap HDMI screen (Alternatively, if it would be cheaper to use a monitor that only has a DVI input, get a passive HDMI->DVI Adapter instead of an HDMI cable)
If you want these Pis to be networked together, get an ethernet cable for each Pi and a switch with enough ports to connect them all.
For additional storage considerations, I would either create a centralized network share or use a larger SD card for each pi.
From there it's all about what you want to teach the kids. If you want them to learn programming, then the educational material is up to you and the above setup will provide everything you need. If you want them to also learn to interface with the physical world then you'll need LEDs, resistors, capacitors, some isolation circuits to protect the pi, etc. The Gertboard does a great job of providing lots of I/O while also providing some protection for the pi, but I've heard of other interface boards for the pi, and you can always make your own.
1) The Raspberry Pi Model B
2) 8 GB SD card with NOOBs
3) 1.2 Amp, 5V power supply w/ micro USB Male plug
4) Generic keyboard
5) Generic Mouse
6) HDMI cable + Cheap HDMI screen (Alternatively, if it would be cheaper to use a monitor that only has a DVI input, get a passive HDMI->DVI Adapter instead of an HDMI cable)
If you want these Pis to be networked together, get an ethernet cable for each Pi and a switch with enough ports to connect them all.
For additional storage considerations, I would either create a centralized network share or use a larger SD card for each pi.
From there it's all about what you want to teach the kids. If you want them to learn programming, then the educational material is up to you and the above setup will provide everything you need. If you want them to also learn to interface with the physical world then you'll need LEDs, resistors, capacitors, some isolation circuits to protect the pi, etc. The Gertboard does a great job of providing lots of I/O while also providing some protection for the pi, but I've heard of other interface boards for the pi, and you can always make your own.
Dear forum: Play nice 
Re: Pi Lab Requirements
There have been a few posts even giving lists of useful equipment for school labs - I've tried to search but can't find them now!pksengupta wrote: My wish is to set up a small lab in a school where young kids can play with Raspberry Pi kits and learn and build little projects.
Abishur's list is a good start though, especially if as he says you aren't going to do interfacing/electronics projects. (Which have a risk of shorting things out and damaging the Pi!)
I'd add simple cases of some sort, it really is easy to damage things by accidentally shorting the pi against anything metal...
Screens are the biggest expense, but if you can afford one for each station then that's fine.