A Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Light Wave Sensing and Communication Project: Low-Cost, Portable, Effective, and Fun

Contribution: A do-it-yourself (DIY) light wave sensing (LWS) and communication project was developed to generate interest and clarify basic electromagnetic (EM) and wireless sensing/communication concepts among students at different education levels from middle school to undergraduate. This article demonstrates the nature of the project and its preliminary effectiveness. Background: Concepts in wireless sensing and communication are generally considered hard to comprehend being underpinned only by theoretical coursework and occasional simulations. Further, K-12 schools and small academic institutions may not have the resources necessary to produce tangible demonstrations for clarification. The consequent lack of affordable hands-on experiences fails to motivate and engage students. Intended Outcomes: The DIY-LWS is intended to make wireless concepts more understandable and less esoteric by linking fundamental concepts with student-relevant technologies, such as solar cells, visible lights, and smartphones. It is also intended to pique student interest by allowing them to personally assemble, operate, and explore a light-based wireless communication system. Students complete assessments before and after the project to quantify its effectiveness. Application Design: A preliminary assessment is used to determine the student base knowledge level and enthusiasm for wireless and related core topics. Students are instructed to assemble and test their own DIY-LWS hardware to provide a hands-on experience and stimulate further exploration. Short lectures are given to link conceptual ideas to the real-world phenomena students personally observed. Finally, students are reassessed to quantify any change in conceptual understanding. Findings: The DIY-LWS kits have been used in multiple events with students at different levels from secondary to high schools to college. As part of a triangulated assessment methodology, pre- and post-assessments revealed pronounced improvements (the number of correct answers doubled) in student understanding of EM concepts. Instructors observed tremendous interest and excitement among the students during and after the experiments.