Boolean logic, the math of true/false or 1/0 values, forms the foundation of many important operations in daily life. This project seeks to demystify basic Boolean logic through the use of mechanical logic gates as a teaching tool for high school students. We constructed a series of push-pull logic gates from wood and acrylic that model basic Boolean math operations such as AND, OR, NOT and XOR (exclusive OR). Utilizing these units, we taught students the fundamentals of Boolean logic and the computational power of these logic blocks. Through these educational tools and lessons, we hope to interest high school students in Boolean logic and its application in electrical and computer engineering.
This blog is a collection of photographs and resources compiled over the course of this project.
Our most up-to-date designs are living on dropbox.
Here are some documents from our first teaching experience at Mt. Lebanon High School:
In early May we participated in the Meeting of the Minds, CMU’s undergraduate research colloquium. We set up a poster, presented and won an award. The Studio for Creative Inquiry acknowledged our project for bringing together arts and engineering in a creative way.
In early May we participated in the Scotty Labs Demo Day (http://scottylabs.org/). It was good fun to show off the gates and we got some great feedback.
Build 18 purchased a new Replicator II 3D printer. We got a chance to try it out:
