Microbit Sensors & Circuits
Advanced
60 mins
Teacher/Student led
190 points
What you need:
Chromebook/Laptop/PC
Microbit
LED Strip with crocodile clips

LED Stacking

In this step-by-step lesson, you'll create an interactive LED stack using a Microbit project. You'll add the neopixel extension, set up the LED strip, create variables, and develop functions to control the LED stack. By programming buttons, you'll be able to increase or decrease the stack. Finally, you'll download your code and test your LED stack.
Learning Goals Learning Outcomes Teacher Notes Lesson Files

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    1 - Create a new Microbit project

    To get started create a new Microbit project.

    makecode.microbit.org

    2 - Add the neopixel extension

    To access the blocks we need to program the LED strip, you need to add the neopixel extension to your project.


    3 - Setup the LED Strip

    To be able to interact and program the LED strip we will need a variable that stores the strip.

    Add the following code to your project. We set the value to be 30 as there are 30 LEDs on the strip.

    4 - Create an amount variable

    We need a variable to store the amount of LEDs in our stack.

    Create a variable called amount.

    5 - Create a function to show the stack

    At several times we will want to show the stack of LEDs lit up. Rather than add the code to light up the stack each time, let's create a function that has the code to light up the stack. We can then call this function anytime we want to run that code.

    Create a function called "showStack".

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