This project is aimed towards middle-school and high-school STEM educators who would like to do a project that combines lessons in ecology and sustainability with computer science and web development.

In this project, I have provided an overview on composting, and instructions for how to build a temperature and humidity monitoring device that communicates with a web application.

The detailed, master instructions are on Github, all I've done here is provided the big steps. You'll need those instructions to really complete the project.

Please feel free to contribute to the lesson on github. :)

Step 1: Order the Materials

Reference the master instructions for the complete materials list. In a nutshell, as long as you have a computer and some soldering irons available in a classroom - getting all the materials needed for one 'kit' will run approximately $130.

Step 2: Teach a Quick Composting Lesson

Teach a quick composting lesson to the kids using my quick summary. This will teach why composting is important, and help them understand why temperature and water moisture levels are important things to monitor in a compost pile.

Step 3: Build the Web Application

Use the master instructions to build out the web application. In next section of the instructions, you will build out the Arduino powered sensor that communicates with the web application.

Step 4: Build the Monitoring Device

Use the master instructions to build out the Arduino powered monitoring device. Once you have this up and running, you should be able to communicate with your web application!

Step 5: Please Contribute!

There are plenty of ways to make this project better. Hopefully this gets the creative brains going in your class so they can easily spot some of the issues and work towards solving them. For example, it's not very helpful to have a remove monitoring device that relies on a computer for power - how can they fix that?