The development of information and communication technologies enables new ways of integrating electronic devices into our everyday lives. Home automation makes everyday tasks easier for the user and improves the quality of life. The Raspberry Pi and other programmable environments make it easier for users to learn electronics and programming. Since the curricula have been in place for some time, they do not contain guidelines or a plan for incorporating new technologies into the school space, like the Raspberry Pi microcomputer is.
The thesis is intended for teachers in junior high and high school, teaching technology education classes. Its main result is a project focused on a Raspberry Pi microcomputer used as a main controller of two smart home elements, lights, and blinds. In theoretical part we present smart home and its elements, Raspberry Pi microcomputer, and its components. We check different use cases of smart home elements and Raspberry Pi microcomputer in Slovenian and foreign education systems. We analyse suitability of the current educational curriculum in Slovenia for junior high and high schools for the purpose of using our project in technical education. We present a classical approach in science and technology lessons and upgrade it with presentation of alternative learning approaches and methods. In practical part we present first boot up and setup of Raspberry Pi, instalment of needed software, Apache web server, and Flask Python module. We continue with configuration of Raspberry Pi to become our main web server and control unit of our smart home. In detail we explain usage of electronic components and how they are connected with software part made with Python, Javascript and HTML programming languages. Software part is also thoroughly explained for each subset individually. Finally, we offer the reader recommendations for the inclusion and placement of the given project in the educational process of natural science and technical subjects of the third triad of primary school and high school education based on the existing curricula.
The thesis leaves many open possibilities and improvements, due to the sheer breadth of the topic and versatile usage of Raspberry Pi microcomputer.
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