The Concord Consortium Do It Yourself ProbeKit

Getting started

The ITSI Probe Kit is a collection of inexpensive components that students can use to build a variety of sensors and take data using the ITSI activities. Though the sensors are not as rugged as the commercial versions, they are much less expensive and enable the student to have a more direct experience of the underlying electronics.

There are two approaches to using the ITSI Probe Kit:

• Read about the Probe Kit and learn about the underlying electronics principles, then build one or more probes. Start with an explanation of the principles.
• Build a probe or two, run them, and then study the underlying electronics. To start constructing a probe, go the itsi probekit activities link and open a probe construction activity.

Activities to build each sensor include step-by-step instructions with pictures. Each activity also enables you to test the sensor's output. Many of them are very simple, requiring only the sensor itself and a few connector wires.

Start by reading the "Experiment board and header — how they work," which provides some basic background and a simple activity of lighting an LED with the Probe Kit. Then check out "Reading ITSI resistors and capacitors". Then start building sensors!