1. Connections Engineering Outreach
The Ultimate Guide to
Makey Makey
Kurt Bagg
Connections Engineering Outreach
Queen’s University
@QEngConnections
Connections - Queen's Engineering Experience Program

2. Simple Circuitry Draw a circuit that includes : 1) A Power source
2) A load (ie. Light, motor, etc.)
3) A switch

3. Makey Makey and Circuitry

4. What is a Makey Makey?
Name the photo something you can find easily

5. What is a Makey Makey?
Makey Makey is an invention kit for the 21st century. Turn everyday objects into touchpads and combine them with the internet. It’s a simple invention kit for beginners and experts doing art, engineering, and everything in between.
The Makey Makey allows students to become hardware engineers and solve real-world design challenges by providing a landscape that fosters curiosity and creates vibrant learners.
Key Point #1:
The computer sees the Makey Makey as an external keyboard. The
Makey Makey does not come with software to make it work with the
computer nor does it need it.
Key Point #2:
If an operation on the computer screen can be controlled with the
keyboard or the mouse then the Makey Makey can control it as well.

6. Building the Makey Makey
Key Point #1:
To control a function on the Makey Makey (example: Left Arrow Key) you
must find a way to connect that function to “Earth” (Ground). This is called
“creating a circuit”. The most common mistake when using the Makey
Makey is to attempt to control a function on the Makey Makey without
finding a way to connect that function to the “Earth” (Ground).

7. Conductive Materials

8. Makey Makey Piano

9. Makey Makey & Scratch https://scratch.mit.edu/

10. Interactive Drawings

11. Design Thinking & The Makey Makey
Design Thinking is an approach to addressing challenges in a thoughtful and fun way, where you get to apply 21st Century learning skills - collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and communication - to your own work as you develop new solutions for your classroom, school, and community

12. Social, Environmental, Economic, Safety Considerations
Design Thinking – 5 p’s
Present
Document, report, share, reflect
Social, Environmental, Economic, Safety Considerations
Problem
Empathy, focusing problem, value to user, stakeholders, constraints, success criteria
Plan
Research, standards, idea generation, compare & evaluate ideas, select
Product
Test, evaluate, refine, compare to problem
Prototype
Model, build, simulate, calculate, code, analyze
“In a moment, when you’re working to create a solution to a problem or issue that’s important or relevant to you, use this 5 step Design Thinking
process as you plan how to manifest your solution.”

13. Example Design Thinking Projects

14. Example Design Thinking Projects
Etch A Sketch 1.0 Remix

15. Example Design Thinking Projects

16. Makey Makey in the Classroom
How could we use Makey Makey in our classrooms?
What are some possible curriculum links we could make with Makey Makey?
What are large scale school wide projects?

17. Project Leo (Love Each Other)

18. Makey Makey Resources
- Makey Makey Company Website
- Lesson Plans, Teacher Resources
- Educators Guide to Makey Makey
- Sample Lesson Plans
- Makey Makey Projects
- Design Thinking in the Classroom