Eighth-grade students enrolled in Anthony Carbanaro’s and Nathan Giagios’s technology classes at Ronkonkoma Middle School were recently afforded the opportunity to tinker with the Arduino program, which is reinforcing computer coding skills of students throughout the nation.

Utilizing the physical programmable circuit board known widely as the “microcontroller,” the students plugged into their computers and ran software which allowed them to easily upload computer code to the board itself.

The Arduino Boards are fascinating pieces of technology which are able to read inputs such as light on a sensor, a finger on a button or a Twitter message, and turn it into an output, such as activating a motor, turning on an LED and publishing content online.