Measuring humidity and temperature with a Raspberry Pi
We know that cold, damp homes are not good for our health, as explained in the article Damp homes and health risks. Ventilation is often recommended as a way to prevent dampness from accumulating. In this activity, students use electronic components to measure temperature and humidity levels in homes modelled from ice cream containers. They use data from the sensors to determine whether ventilation helps to reduce dampness.
Model houses and humidity
The model houses are used to test the influence of ventilation on indoor humidity levels. The activity uses a Raspberry Pi and sensors to record humidity and temperature data over a 24-hour period.
The activity supports several aspects of the digital technologies curriculum. Students have the option of gathering data using the supplied software (see SLH Sensor Suite Software download below, note that this is a 1.6 GB file) or using an extension activity to develop their own software code.
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
build model houses with simple materials
discuss why scientists use models
discuss the use of a control in an experiment
follow instructions to assemble and test an electronic system
use the sensors to collect data
use, interpret and make sense of the data collected
make recommendations about home ventilation based on the data
develop their own code to operate the electronic system (optional).
Nature of science
Constructing, testing and debugging hardware is a task that scientists are often required to do. They need to have reasonable knowledge of how their equipment works to ensure data obtained from the equipment is reliably sourced.
Download the Word file (see link below) for:
background information for teachers
equipment list
teacher instructions
student instructions.
Related content
Learn more about relative humidity, dewpoint, wet bulb/dry bulb measurement techniques and thermal comfort in the activity Relative humidity and thermal comfort.
In this Connected article Lighting the sky with Raspberry Pi, discover how students created a digital light display for Matariki using Raspberry Pi computers.
In this recorded webinar Stephen Ross shares digital tools to support students’ engagement with the science capabilities.
Acknowledgement
This activity is inspired by a hygrothermal model house activity developed by Tim Bishop. The Science Learning Hub Sensor Suite software was developed by Daniel Schipper using the following open source software: Raspbian, GNU Tools and the Adafruit DHT11 library.
Useful links
For more about using a Raspberry Pi see the range of resources on the Raspberry Pi Foundation website.
Take a look at our curation on Pinterest for more resources around healthy homes.
