What's A Microcontroller?

What's a Microcontroller? is an easy-to-follow, entry-level text for the BASIC Stamp microcontroller and Board of Education, or BASIC Stamp HomeWork Board.  40 hands-on activities are designed for those who are just starting out in electronics or who have minimal experience with programming the BASIC Stamp. 

This is the foundation material for our Stamps in Class Mini Projects, and a great resource for STEM education. Available in print or free PDF download.

Covered topics include:

  • Building simple circuits with schematics and wiring diagrams
  • Writing programs in PBASIC to control the circuits
  • Sending signals by blinking LEDs
  • Sensing contact with pushbuttons
  • Reading a dial using a potentiometer
  • Measuring light with a phototransistor
  • Controlling motion with a servo motor
  • Playing tunes on a piezo speaker
  • Displaying data on a 7-segment LED
  • Combining several circuits to prototype an invention

Teacher resources are available for this tutorial. Email education@parallax.com for details.