After 6 weeks, our team at i3 Detroit is unveiling our submission for the GGHC, we call it Interactive Quiz.
The concept is simple: a student response system (clicker) that automatically assigns students to groups to discuss questions, but allows them to answer individually, giving them feedback on the performance of their group. We chose this idea because several of the teachers we interviewed told us that across the board, many students were afraid of making mistakes. As hackers, we know that making mistakes is a key part of the learning process, so we set out to create a safe way for students to make mistakes, but eventually learn the right answer (or answers)!
The key idea behind Interactive Quiz is that students in a group try to all get correct answers to light up a green light for their group (all right answers). If some of the group gets a question right and some of the group gets it wrong, they get a yellow light. If everyone gets it wrong, they get a red light. Students get feedback without being singled out, and they can discuss and revise their answers based on the feedback they receive.
We actually built two versions of the Interactive Quiz. We had hoped to get a wireless version done by the end of the competition, but we knew it might not be possible so we started with a simpler wired proof-of-concept.
The wired version uses an ATMega16A microprocessor, and allows for a single group of three students. Each student has a response unit with 5 buttons, and the teacher has a unit to select which answers are correct. There is also a readout unit with red, yellow, and green LEDs to indicate how the students did on each question.
The wireless version uses an ATMega168 for each teacher and student unit, as well as a ZigBee module for the wireless communication. In addition to the five buttons to indicate answers, each unit has a 7-segment LED display used to indicate group number and provide feedback to the teachers based on how students answer. Although we weren't able to complete enough wireless units to play through a group quiz scenario, we were able to prototype one teacher unit and two student units to run our code and verify that it works.
Here are the final schematics for the student and teacher units: