Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

We need help with our daughter's science project that involves making an
electronic drum kit using paper plates and aluminium foil connected to
a Pico Board and laptop through alligator cables.

We've downloaded the Scratch program from the MIT site, and connected
everything properly, from what we see on the laptop.

But there are no sounds played by the Scratch program when the drum is hit. But we do
hear drum sounds when we click on the Scratch program using the laptop's mouse. It's
just that there's no playback when you hit the drum.

We've tried configuring the Scratch program to the best of our
ability, but unfortunately have not made any progress.

Her deadline for the project is on Tuesday.

This sounds like it could be a really interesting science project. Congratulations on working with your student on it. We need lots of paret involvement to get our kids engaged in science.

This project is really quite unique in that you are integrating specific types of electronics and computers. I was not familiar with the Scratch program until I did my homework in order to respond to your questions.

Given the specific nature of the equipment you are using, my best suggestion is to go directly to the Scratch forum and ask other users of the system how to get your project up and running. You can find the forum here:

http://scratch.mit.edu/forums/

Good luck with this.

When you come up with more questions dealing with specific area of science or engineering, look us up here at the Science Buddies Ask An Expert Forum and we'll do our best to help.