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micro:bit Projects with Python and Single Board Computers: Building STEAM Projects with Code Club and Kids' Maker Groups Martin Tan - The latest ebook is available, download it today

The document promotes the book 'micro:bit Projects with Python and Single Board Computers' by Martin Tan, which focuses on building STEAM projects for kids using micro:bit and Python. It provides links to download the book and other related educational resources available at ebookmass.com. Additionally, it outlines various chapters and topics covered in the book, including programming basics, electronics, and collaborative project work.

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100% found this document useful (1 vote)
12 views

micro:bit Projects with Python and Single Board Computers: Building STEAM Projects with Code Club and Kids' Maker Groups Martin Tan - The latest ebook is available, download it today

The document promotes the book 'micro:bit Projects with Python and Single Board Computers' by Martin Tan, which focuses on building STEAM projects for kids using micro:bit and Python. It provides links to download the book and other related educational resources available at ebookmass.com. Additionally, it outlines various chapters and topics covered in the book, including programming basics, electronics, and collaborative project work.

Uploaded by

ndhulenki
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MAKER
I N N O VAT I O N S
SERIES

micro:bit Projects
with Python
and Single Board
Computers
Building STEAM Projects with
Code Club and Kids’ Maker Groups

Martin Tan
micro:bit Projects
with Python and
Single Board
Computers
Building STEAM Projects
with Code Club and Kids’
Maker Groups

Martin Tan
micro:bit Projects with Python and Single Board Computers: Building
STEAM Projects with Code Club and Kids’ Maker Groups

Martin Tan
Doncaster Heights, VIC, Australia

ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4842-9196-2 ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4842-9197-9


https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-9197-9

Copyright © 2023 by Martin Tan


This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or
part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way,
and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software,
or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark
symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos,
and images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no
intention of infringement of the trademark.
The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if
they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not
they are subject to proprietary rights.
While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of
publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal
responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty,
express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.
Managing Director, Apress Media LLC: Welmoed Spahr
Acquisitions Editor: Aaron Black
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Coordinating Editor: Jessica Vakili
Distributed to the book trade worldwide by Springer Science+Business Media New York, 233
Spring Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10013. Phone 1-800-SPRINGER, fax (201) 348-4505,
e-mail [email protected], or visit www.springeronline.com. Apress Media, LLC is a
California LLC and the sole member (owner) is Springer Science + Business Media Finance Inc
(SSBM Finance Inc). SSBM Finance Inc is a Delaware corporation.
For information on translations, please e-mail [email protected]; for
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Printed on acid-free paper
Table of Contents
About the Author���������������������������������������������������������������������������������ix

About the Technical Reviewer�������������������������������������������������������������xi

Acknowledgments�����������������������������������������������������������������������������xiii

Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xv

Chapter 1: Getting Started��������������������������������������������������������������������1


A Quick Tale: Several Years of Mistakes – Numbers, Passwords, Computers,
Accountability, and More���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������5
What Is Your Baseline – Where Are You Starting From?����������������������������������������7
Tasks for Establishing a Baseline��������������������������������������������������������������������8
Work Out Your Initial Scope: What Are Your First Milestones?�����������������������11
Equipment and Initial Setup��������������������������������������������������������������������������������14
Computers/Laptops���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������14
Optimizing Your Environment������������������������������������������������������������������������15
Onboarding at the Start of Each Year������������������������������������������������������������15
Computers and IT Support�����������������������������������������������������������������������������16
Login and Password Basics���������������������������������������������������������������������������17
Another Alternative – Make Your Space Portable������������������������������������������18
The Tech Stuff: Learn by Applying�����������������������������������������������������������������19
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������26
Chapter 1: Cheat Sheet���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������29
Sources for Free Content and Support����������������������������������������������������������29
Short-Term Goal/Milestone Examples�����������������������������������������������������������29

iii
Table of Contents

Long-Term Goal Examples�����������������������������������������������������������������������������29


Questions to Ask When Helping Kids Troubleshoot Their Code����������������������30
Other Useful Tips for Troubleshooting������������������������������������������������������������31
Checklist for Volunteer Onboarding���������������������������������������������������������������31
Checklist for Participants and Guardians������������������������������������������������������31

Chapter 2: Getting Our Hands Dirty with MicroPython�����������������������33


A Quick Tale: Jumping In with Our Code Club�����������������������������������������������������34
Tracking Progress�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������37
What Can We Do in One Hour?����������������������������������������������������������������������������39
Introducing the BBC micro:bit�����������������������������������������������������������������������������40
Setting Up an Editor���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������41
Scaling Up: Adding Challenges����������������������������������������������������������������������62
Challenge Discussion and Solution���������������������������������������������������������������63
Ideas for Even More Features������������������������������������������������������������������������64
Going Further: Adding External Components�������������������������������������������������65
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������70
Chapter 2: Cheat Sheet���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������72
Introduction to the micro:bit��������������������������������������������������������������������������72
Completing Initial Learning Projects��������������������������������������������������������������73
Creating New Projects�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������73
Add Features with Challenges�����������������������������������������������������������������������73

Chapter 3: General Python Programming�������������������������������������������75


A Quick Tale: Answers to Common Questions – Weaning Off Blocks and
Tablets�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������78
Python Program Structure����������������������������������������������������������������������������������84
A Friendly Python Environment on Your Computer����������������������������������������84
Mu Editor�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������86

iv
Table of Contents

Test Our Environment������������������������������������������������������������������������������������86


Installing Python Libraries in Thonny�������������������������������������������������������������87
Python Script Structure���������������������������������������������������������������������������������91
Going Further: Internet and Other Devices��������������������������������������������������109
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������110
Chapter 3: Cheat Sheet�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������113

Chapter 4: Getting Tactile with Python���������������������������������������������115


A Quick Tale: Keeping It Simple to Build Bigger������������������������������������������������115
E-textiles: Building Circuits on Fabric and Cardboard���������������������������������������117
Starting with a Simple Circuit����������������������������������������������������������������������118
Considerations for E-textile Projects�����������������������������������������������������������119
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������151
Chapter 4: Cheat Sheet�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������152

Chapter 5: Freestyling with Python: Going Off Map and


Applying Skills����������������������������������������������������������������������������������155
A Quick Tale: When Progress Levels Diverge����������������������������������������������������155
Finding Your Own Project – From Start to Finish����������������������������������������������161
Beginning with Diagrams: The Self-­Watering Plant Project������������������������������162
Scaling Up Our Project: Understanding How Things Work and Adding
One Thing at a Time������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������168
Pros and Cons of Simplifying Projects��������������������������������������������������������������170
Cost�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������170
Perception of Difficulty��������������������������������������������������������������������������������171
Reducing Challenges Can Limit What We Learn������������������������������������������171
Continuity����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������172
Scaling Even Further�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������173
Code Club Alumni����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������177

v
Table of Contents

Adapting Our Skills: An API Project in Python with Trinket.io����������������������������179


Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������185
Chapter 5: Cheat Sheet�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������186

Chapter 6: Collaboration: Working with Others��������������������������������189


A Quick Tale: Devs and Testers��������������������������������������������������������������������������189
What Is Open Source Software?������������������������������������������������������������������196
Working Online: Collaborating with Online Tools�����������������������������������������������199
Code Collaboration Tools�����������������������������������������������������������������������������199
Using Programming Terminology to Communicate When Collaborating��������204
Testing Yourself: Creating Your Own Game Writing Workshops with
What You’ve Learned�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������205
Communications������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������208
Security and Privacy When Working Online�������������������������������������������������211
Chapter 6: Cheat Sheet�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������215
Devs and Testers Activity (2 x 1-Hour Blocks)���������������������������������������������215
Open Source Software���������������������������������������������������������������������������������215
Security and Privacy When Working Online�������������������������������������������������217
Code Collaboration Terminology������������������������������������������������������������������217
Creating Your Own Workshops��������������������������������������������������������������������218

Chapter 7: Electronics: Basic Skills and Tools����������������������������������219


A Quick Tale: Getting the Burn for Electronic Projects��������������������������������������220
Basic Electronic Component Primer�����������������������������������������������������������������222
Electronic Schematics and Datasheets�������������������������������������������������������223
Breadboards and Circuit Boards������������������������������������������������������������������223
Through-Hole vs. Surface-Mount Components�������������������������������������������223
Resistors������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������224
Transistors���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������226

vi
Table of Contents

Capacitors���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������228
Diodes����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������229
Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs)�����������������������������������������������������������������������230
Integrated Circuit (IC) Chips�������������������������������������������������������������������������231
Soldering!����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������231
Tools You Will Need for Soldering����������������������������������������������������������������232
Other Useful Things to Have������������������������������������������������������������������������235
How to Solder����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������236
Teaching Kids to Solder�������������������������������������������������������������������������������237
Handy Software Tools����������������������������������������������������������������������������������237
Embedded Programming����������������������������������������������������������������������������������242
Some Useful Concepts to Understand���������������������������������������������������������242
Approaching a New Microcontroller Electronic Project (Digital)�����������������������244
Software and Hardware Support for Proposed Components�����������������������245
Support for Languages We Are Proficient In������������������������������������������������245
Availability of Parts to Scale Things Up�������������������������������������������������������246
Draw a Diagram, Create a Schematic����������������������������������������������������������246
Breadboard Prototype����������������������������������������������������������������������������������246
Going Further�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������247
Introducing the Raspberry Pi Pico���������������������������������������������������������������247
Next Steps���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������276
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������279
Chapter 7: Cheat Sheet�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������279
Electronic Components��������������������������������������������������������������������������������279

Chapter 8: Putting It All Together�����������������������������������������������������283


Planning a Year of a School Maker Space/Code Club with Python�������������������283
Deciding on Communication Channels�������������������������������������������������������������284

vii
Table of Contents

Communicating with Parents/Guardians�����������������������������������������������������284


Communicating with Volunteers/Teachers��������������������������������������������������285
Communicating with IT Staff�����������������������������������������������������������������������286
Setting Expectations�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������287
Expectations for Participating Kids�������������������������������������������������������������287
Setting Expectations for Volunteers������������������������������������������������������������289
A Note About Qualifying/Filtering Volunteers�����������������������������������������������290
Get a Benchmark of Skills Across the Group for Kids and Volunteers��������������291
Build Some Basic Skills to Equip Kids to Go the Distance��������������������������������292
Group Activities�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������295
Develop and Deliver Workshops with Scalable Projects�����������������������������������297
Club Excursions/Events, Community/School Events�����������������������������������������302
Demos���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������304
Contribute Back������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������305
Encouraging Alumni to Volunteer����������������������������������������������������������������������307
Learning from Mistakes and Learning More�����������������������������������������������������310
Keeping Yourself Motivated and Kids Engaged�������������������������������������������311
Preparation��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������312
Scaling Things Up����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������313
My Experience Highlights���������������������������������������������������������������������������������314
It’s Up to You, Now!�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������315
Chapter 8: Cheat Sheet��������������������������������������������������������������������������������316

Appendix A: Traffic Light Workshops������������������������������������������������323

Index�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������339

viii
About the Author
Martin Tan wrote the first Code Club Moonhack projects in Scratch and
Python, used by over 10,000 kids in Australia. He has taken kids to demo
robots and coding projects in parliament, delivered training to Code Club
Australia, and contributes to various Maker communities online. Martin
blogs on Maker topics, runs a Maker store, and works in IT security,
contributing to various open source projects and community conferences.
Most of his endeavors feed into his hobbies, which also include music,
locksport, and various techy pursuits.

ix
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About the Technical Reviewer
Ioana Culic is currently a PhD candidate in the field of Internet of Things
and the cofounder of Wyliodrin, a company that offers educational and
industrial IoT solutions. She is a Teaching Assistant at the Politehnica
University of Bucharest and has also been teaching IoT technologies to
high school and university students at different events for the last five
years. Despite the technical background, writing has always been Ioana’s
passion, and she managed to mix the two. She has published several
articles in magazines such as The MagPi and Make and books on Internet
of Things technologies. Ioana has been porting JavaScript to TockOS.

xi
Acknowledgments
During our journey helping kids to learn programming (coding) and
other maker skills, there were many people who helped as we strived to
empower kids to push themselves further and leverage their newfound
skills to express their imagination and ideas. Whether it be donating time,
knowledge, or even just being supportive when I would excitedly rant
about how proud we were of the kids, it made a lasting difference to the
kids, and for that we are thankful. In this section, I also wanted to mention
some specific contributions.
Firstly, thanks to David Mander at Milgate Primary School for taking
the initiative and leap of faith to register a code club and for the many
hours spent after school making sure that the code club would run and
helping with all our extra excursions and events and dealing with the
anxiety of all the administrative requirements that came with these.
Thanks for your support in the face of much frustration at trying to prepare
things and push our club to eventually embrace text-based coding and
electronics.
From the early days: Thanks to Jay for your consistent presence in the
early years of our code club and starting the trend of alumni school kid
volunteers. And thanks to Ryan for lighting a fire under everyone in that
first year and onward with your unique game demos, and in later years,
Jamie for breaking out your super fun multilevel games.
To all the parents who volunteered their time over the years, especially
Glen and Rula who stuck around for multiple years and provided great
support and belief, which made such a difference, and helped us fumble
through some frustrating times.

xiii
Acknowledgments

Some special people from Code Club Australia were instrumental in


providing such powerful encouragement, support, and feedback to myself
and our club over the years. Thanks to Kelly Tagalan for all your belief
and enthusiasm and trusting me with presenting our club’s demos and
to write all those projects, including the first Moonhack to get 10,000 kids
coding. Thanks also to Nicola and Tom for your support, encouragement,
and feedback. To Rik from Code Club UK, thanks for your help, feedback,
and very knowledgeable tips and all the work you put into writing all those
code club curriculum projects over the years.
Without the advice and inspiration from other authors, including
Michael Rash, Al Sweigart, and many other technical authors, I would not
even have considered contributing a book – thanks for paving the way with
your inspiring writing and experience!
I would also like to thank those who made podcasts that encouraged
me when driving to work, especially Michael from “Talk Python to Me,”
Kelly and Sean from “Teaching Python,” and Chris from “The Real Python
Podcast.” And also, thanks to Michael from Kitronik for supporting our
club with various samples and keyrings. Thanks to micro:mag and Code
Club World for publishing my articles.
In addition to Jay, all the other alumni students who came back as
volunteers over the years – thank you so much for just turning up and
making such a fantastic difference to our code club kids. You are the best
inspiration because you have done what they are doing and continue to
do so. Some extra special thanks must go to Ethan, Emily, Thom, Noah,
Yasmine, and Yamen for the extra consistency, time, and effort you
invested. You helped our code club to persist over the years and made sure
that so many got the help and support when they needed it!
Huge thanks to my family for putting up with all my ranting, stress, and
frustration during the writing of this book, especially my kids for coming to
code club week after week, year after year. This book would not be possible
without all your love and support.

xiv
Introduction
Although programming (coding) was once a skill for a very specific role,
nowadays, computers or microcontroller chips are ubiquitous; when
coupled with today’s human-friendly modern coding languages, the scope
for applying this skill is now much broader. However, in the same way that
reading or writing is useful for recreational and personal interests rather
than relegated to purely academic applications, coding and creating with
technology is now much more accessible to everyone. By embracing these
skills for creative and artistic pursuits or just to help simplify the way we
interact with our tools, the areas that once took us away from enjoying life
can now free us from the restrictions that technology previously placed on
us. For kids, this is realized through maker groups and code clubs, which
meld a previously academic skillset to apply for our own recreation or to
express our ideas into something tangible to others. Sadly, we often hear
of a disconnect between people who want to learn and the more technical
folk – the latter explaining things in their own context, without realizing
their use of jargon and what seems like abstract terminology for those that
bridge into other disciplines such as teaching. When listening to teachers,
I’ve often heard things like, “IT people don’t get it when they try to explain
to us” or “How do I implement this for a class or group?” Similarly, our
code club kids ask for project examples within their life environment, so
they could see how maker skills could be immediately useful.
Over several years, a group of volunteers and I have muddled our way
through adventures with our Australian code club, hosted at the local
primary school. This has taken us to conferences, Parliament, and our code
club kids were featured on TV and online media; had begun to incorporate
their code club skills into their social lives and school projects. Along the
way, we struggled with logistical and IT-related challenges and the quest

xv
Introduction

to make sure kids were engaged and constantly challenged to grow, rather
than just occupied. We sought to give kids ownership of these skills so
that these would not just be something they “learned about at school” but
rather something that empowered them to use across other aspects of their
lives, rather than just an academic topic. Sometimes, we failed or ran out of
time, but the net effect was that we gradually progressed over the years. As I
looked back and had my memory jogged by others as we tried to remember
the details, we realized that we had come a long way from that first day of
code club. When David, one of the school teachers; Jay, a former student
recently graduated to high school; and myself initially shuffled into a room
with a small group of kids and some computers, we wondered whether we
could even get a working program to run – now, almost a decade later, we’re
seeing kids using these skills at home and able to interact with AI interfaces,
hopefully more seamlessly and with a little less trepidation.

The Purpose of This Book


Although there are many books filled with activities for a lone person, or
replicated for many working individually, there were not many that showed
how to take a project and scale it for pairs or groups of kids. Most books
show projects created in isolation rather than tested with class groups.
Rather than providing deep technical discussions or a technical reference,
this book aims to give a relatable context to the technical things while
pointing you in the right direction for the deep technical information.
Projects are also included and have been developed in the context of a
club limited to one-hour sessions at a time. From a school perspective,
I’m not a teacher, so I’ve provided the how-tos so you can paste these
into handouts, but they may require assessment tasks to be added. From
a social and maker group perspective, these can be run as provided. All
the materials and tools are specified at the start of each project, and many
are made to be scaled to allow group collaboration. Some will run for

xvi
Introduction

multiple sessions but have been designed to easily be continued in one-


hour chunks. Through my recollections of our mistakes and successes
with real anecdotes peppered throughout, the book also aims to help the
reader with the logistics of preparation, providing a structured approach
to learning the basic skills and explanations of useful tools and where to
find the deep details. Most projects also have a challenge with some hints,
to accommodate a range of kids’ skills and experience so no one is left
behind, ahead, or idle for too long! You’ll learn the useful concepts and
skills for running a maker group or code club, in a way that gives more of a
meaningful real-life creative context rather than being purely academic.
I hope that the platform and skills we provide with will go some
way toward giving kids the skills, freedom, and drive to explore and do
that which we do not yet think is possible. We only need to look into the
Demoscene’s1 origins and history to realize how much can be achieved
with just a bit of curiosity and collaboration, to do things previously
deemed impossible with electronic hardware limitations of the time.

Intended Audience
The intended audience for this book is teachers, parents, and volunteers
who are running or looking to run a maker group or code club for kids
aged from eight years old to those beginning high school (in Australia, the
latter is generally around 13 years old). If you’re a school-­aged kid, you
can also enjoy digging through this book for the projects and find ideas for
getting your own maker group happening – all it takes is a few friends to
get together! A maker group or code club is in essence two or more people
getting together to learn and create. The book does not assume any technical
experience, as I have aimed to explain terminology in layperson’s terms
before applying it – so you will both learn and be able to talk about the

1
https://chipflip.wordpress.com/category/demoscene/

xvii
Introduction

concepts as a universal way of collaborating then use the included references


to go as far as you want with learning more. Since part of the book’s objective
is to help you keep kids engaged at all experience and skill levels, there are
also some components that will introduce more experienced kids to more
advanced concepts. However, I’ve also aimed to provide practical stepping
stones to allow you to reach useful levels of skill and fluency in coding,
before progressing to applying these in more challenging and rewarding
contexts; for example, in Chapter 3, pointing to Code Club Australia lessons
on simple web pages and basic Python concepts before looking at writing a
“web application” that uses Python logic to create an interactive web page.

Overview of Chapters
The chapters of this book are structured as follows:
Chapter 1: Initial considerations for your code club or maker group,
support resources, initial curriculums to use, logistical solutions to
common problems, and how we improved over time, in practice.
Chapter 2: Finding IT resources and help for your code club and
how to have the required software tools and IT infrastructure set up on
computers and in your space.
Chapter 3: This covers general Python programming concepts
and program structure and how to get the right Python programming
environments to suit your requirements and any location limitations.
Chapter 4: I talk about using more tactile approaches with e-textiles
starting from a basic electronic circuit to a programmed digital e-textile
project with readily available materials, for example, a baseball cap.
Chapter 5: Going “off map” and creating your own project; included is
a self-watering plant project created at our code club.
Chapter 6: Introducing collaboration with others, including a group
project we tested and used and systems you can use to collaborate with
volunteers or other coders. Contributing to community projects is also
discussed.

xviii
Introduction

Chapter 7: Introduction to some basic electronic components and


electronic circuit concepts and analog vs. digital approaches. This chapter
includes building an electronic badge, adding various features, and how to
extend it further.
Chapter 8: Finally, we put what we’ve learned, together, by walking
through planning a year of a code club or kids’ maker group starting with a
Python curriculum progressing through to workshops and next steps.
A bonus appendix is also included with a couple of projects for
creating micro:bit traffic lights.

Conventions Used in This Book


In the included projects, existing code is shown for context, with the
code to be added shown in bold. Explanations of concepts are included
as breakouts to separate them from the main text. Any links with further
information are referenced as footnotes. Python code that wraps to the
next line is denoted with a “\” (slash). Although two-character indents
are used, four-character indents are fine and accepted in Python, if the
indentation is consistent throughout the program. All indents are spaces,
although some editors will automatically convert tabs to spaces. The
phrase “code club” is used interchangeably with “maker group” and refers
to an extracurricular maker club based around coding and electronics that
may be set up on its own or in conjunction with a school.

Prerequisites
The only prerequisites are enthusiasm and a few kids that want to learn. If
you are already teaching kids how to code and have access to computers,
even better! However, this book will outline how to access what you need
and where to find help. When we started our local code club, we only
had a handful of kids, a teacher, an older student, and one person (me)

xix
Introduction

with programming experience. We used free resources and the school’s


computers to get started. During the book, I will outline how we ended up
building up more electronic hardware and attracted more volunteers over
the years. Although one of us had programming experience, this is not
necessary as many of our volunteers learned as they progressed. Most of
the free projects from Code Club Australia and Code Club World were able
to be completed by adults in 20 minutes before each session.

Other Resources
Throughout this book, I’ve included footnotes with various online
resources, including groups that publish free tools and materials for the
community. I also explain where to start getting involved in contributing
to community projects and how kids can also start collaborating to such
projects or even methods they can use to work collaboratively with one
another.
As you progress through this book, you’ll find that it is equally divided
into three main areas of knowledge:

• Getting started, running, and growing your own code


club or maker group
• Prewritten projects and resources to use with
groups of kids

• Anecdotes and learnings taken from building our


own code club, attending some fabulous events, and
contributing to the community – drawn from my own
experience doing these things

xx
CHAPTER 1

Getting Started
Expectations is the place you must always go to before you get
to where you’re going.
—The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

This chapter covers the initial considerations for getting started with
your code club or maker space. I have included examples from the
experiences from our earlier code club years with challenges faced and
give an overview of our strategies to address these. Chapter 8 will dive into
exploring these strategies in detail, using specific how-to examples and
useful templates. As you’ve probably guessed, there’s no technical content
in this chapter, but rather it is a way of outlining some of the more essential
lessons we learned after several years of running a code club.

Note Throughout this book, I refer to code club or maker group


participants as “kids,” whereas older school student alumni will be
referred to as “volunteers,” as are adult volunteers.

So, let’s get started! One of the things to consider when starting a code
club or maker space is roughly what your short-term and long-term goals
are. I say “roughly” as any progress is a reasonable achievement, providing
that the kids stay eager and keep coming back for more. Goals will change
and develop as you progress. For example, an achievable goal can be as

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Other documents randomly have
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general attention by his extraordinary gift of improvisation, and
marvellous execution. In 1805, he composed “Fidelio;” then followed
his oratorio of “Christ on the Mount of Olives,” the “Heroic” and
“Pastoral” symphonies, and his pianoforte Concertos. At this time
Beethoven had scarcely the means of subsistence, and to save him
from want, a pension of four thousand florins was settled upon him
by the Austrian government. He fixed his abode at the village of
Baden, near Vienna, and his life became one of retirement and self-
nurture. He composed his music in his solitary rambles. The wildest
scenery to him was the choicest, for he shrank from intercourse with
men. His habits were known and respected. He died unmarried.
From his twenty-sixth year he had been deaf; but he was otherwise
robust. He was passionately fond of Scott’s romances, and these
works, with the “Odyssey” of Homer, were his consolations during
the illness of which he died. His fertility and variety of production are
marvellous. The passionate soul of melody possessed him. His works
are rich in harmony, tinctured it may be with the delicate mysticism
that ruled his genius in its silent haunts.
[By Ernst Hähnel, of Dresden. Plaster. 1847. In the possession of the artist,
who executed the large statue of Beethoven in bronze, which stands in
the Place at Bonn. This was the study from the life, for the head of the
statue.]

321*. Ferdinando Paer. Musical Composer.


[Born at Parma, in Italy, 1771. Died 1839. Aged 68.]
At sixteen, Paer began to write for the stage. Before he was
twenty-six he had already produced twenty-two operas, all in the
conventional style of the old Italian operas, and after the manner of
Cimarosa and Paisiello. After 1797, a laudable change is remarked in
his style—more force in the harmonies, more variety in the
modulations, with richer and more effective instrumentation. In
1801, appointed by the Elector of Saxony Chapel-Master in Dresden,
and, favoured by the repose afforded here, Paer still improved his
style. In 1806, Dresden was taken by the French. The musician
transferred his services to Napoleon, and accompanied his new
master to Paris. In 1810, revisited his native city, and there
composed his master-piece, the opera of Agnèse. His subsequent
career is remarkable for little more than for petty intrigues against
rival composers, and—after his appointment as Director of the
Italian Opera in Paris in 1812—for miserable squabbles with actors
and musicians. He ceased to be an artist, and condescended to
become a mere courtier and “homme de salon.” His death was
accelerated by long-continued habits of intemperance. Paer was
gifted with great fluency, and his works have brilliancy and spirit; but
he is without originality, force, and dramatic power.
[Bust to come.]

322. Christian Friedrich Tieck. Sculptor.


[Born 1776. Died at Berlin, 1850. Aged 74.]
Of the school of Schadow. Brother to the celebrated poet and
critic, and the friend of Rauch, with whom he was engaged in
illustrating in sculpture the glories of the late war. His productions
are in various parts of Germany, and are held in high estimation. He
is the sculptor of the statue of Frederic William at Ruppen, and of
the front gate of the cathedral at Berlin.
[By Rauch. Marble. 1825. Given by Rauch to his friend Tieck, and now in the
possession of his widow.]

323. Christian Rauch. Sculptor.


[Born 1777. Still living.]
The leading German sculptor of his day—endowed with great
imaginative powers, and excelling in portraits, which, under his
treatment, exhibit truth and nature, intimately associated with poetic
elevation. In 1804, he took his way from Berlin to Rome, and
presently secured the friendship of Thorwaldsen, whose love for the
antique greatly influenced and directed his taste. Whilst at Rome he
executed “Mars and Venus wounded by Diomedes,” a colossal bust
of the King of Prussia, and other celebrated works. In 1811, invited
by the King of Prussia to Berlin, he produced many colossal statues
and countless busts. His colossal “Victories,” for the Walhalla, and
the equestrian monument of Frederic the Great, are well known
efforts of his genius. A great artist—competent to express vigorously,
truthfully, and naturally, historical rather than ideal conception.
[By F. Tieck. Plaster. 1825. Modelled, to be given to his friend Rauch, but the
marble bust not finished. From Lager-Haus.]

324. Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Architect and Painter.


[Born at Neuruppin, in Germany, 1781. Died at Berlin, 1841. Aged 60.]
Styled by his countrymen the Luther of architecture. Employed by
the King of Prussia to erect those structures in his capital which have
stamped a new character on Berlin, and endowed it with high
architectural claims. He gave a new impulse to his art, both by his
influence and his example, and was besides a generous and amiable
man.
[By F. Tieck, 1819. The marble bust is in the Berlin Museum. A copy in bronze
is on the staircase of the Royal Theatre, Berlin.]

325. Leo von Klenze. Architect.


[Born at Hildesheim, in Hanover, 1784. Still living.]
The architect, in Munich, of “The Glyptothek,” and the constructor
of many works, Royal and otherwise, in the same city. Also the
designer of the plans for the “Walhalla.” Author of some literary
productions bearing upon his art. In 1844, accompanied Ludwig I. to
Greece to examine the plans already made for the improvement of
Athens, and to suggest original designs. Klenze possesses great
decorative skill, and a comprehensive knowledge of the history of
architecture; but the true genius and high faculty of composition
appears on few of his productions. He does not take what is
universal in the various styles with which his mind is familiar, in order
to form a style expressive of his own spirit, and suitable to the
country and climate in which it is his business to exhibit it, but he
borrows his structures from Greece and Italy, and deposits them in
Munich, loading the city with specimens of foreign styles of
architecture. His effects are undoubtedly picturesque, and the
decorations of his buildings always beautiful, but fault is found with
the internal arrangements of his edifices, with the lowness of the
apartments, and with the bases of his façades, which are
occasionally mean and even vulgar.
[By J. Halbig. Plaster. 1846. Executed for King Ludwig.]

326. Peter Cornelius. Painter.


[Born at Düsseldorf, in Prussia, 1787. Still living.]
A renowned painter of the later German school. He studied under
Langer, a disciple of the old school, who made enormous efforts to
suppress the romantic tendencies of his pupil, to check his
imagination, and to restrain his boldness. By a visit to Italy, however,
Cornelius confirmed the bent of his genius, and rendered the good
intentions of Herr Langer of no avail. His indomitable perseverance,
hard study, and rare gifts, soon enabled him to outstrip all rivalry.
Whilst still young he was invited to direct at Düsseldorf the School of
Painting, which has proved itself one of the most careful and
successful nursing-mothers of Art in Germany. In 1819, engaged by
the King of Bavaria to decorate the Museum of Sculpture then
constructing at Munich. The subjects painted by Cornelius in fresco
for this Museum from the heroic myths of Homer and Hesiod, are
conceived with a rich imagination, and executed with superior power.
His cartoons illustrating the old “Nibelungen-Lied,” and the “Faust” of
Goethe, are equally remarkable. In 1825, appointed Director of the
Academy of Painting at Munich. In 1841, summoned to Berlin by the
King of Prussia, for whom Cornelius designed the “Shield of Faith,”
presented by his Majesty to his godson, the Prince of Wales.
Cornelius paints with the passionate sensibility and delicate
perception of a true poet. His copious imagination is never at fault,
and his ability to produce is as striking as his faculty of conception.
Yet he never oversteps the modesty of nature, or the confines of
true art. He is the worthy leader of a daily increasing school in
Germany, which attempts, and not unsuccessfully, to unite in art
earnestness of thought, activity, boldness, and freedom.
[By E. Hähnel. Plaster. 1852. In the possession of the artist. This was the
study for the head of the large statue of Cornelius which Hähnel was
commissioned to execute for the new museum at Dresden, and which
stands on the outside, amongst the artists of Germany.]

327. Christoph Gluck. Musician.


[Born in the early part of the 18th century. Died at Vienna, 1787.]
The great merit of Gluck is that he emancipated music from the
trammels of conventionalism and false taste, and made it the
exponent and minister of poetry and the drama. Gluck, invited to
London in 1745 to celebrate in music the butcheries of the Duke of
Cumberland, found that the operas represented there were mere
concerts, for which the drama was a pretext. Sound was everything,
meaning nothing. His own music was set to words with which it had
no connexion, and, torn from its original context, lost all its effect.
This fact led him to the discovery of the great principle which is the
key to the rest of his life: viz., that music is not merely a pleasant
arrangement of sounds intended to gratify the ear, but a subsidiary
language, able to exalt and strengthen the emotions, raised by the
measure and force of the spoken language to which it is allied. In
1761, he composed his opera of “Alceste,” as an illustration of his
idea. It was followed in 1762 and 1763 by “Paris and Helena” and
“Orpheus.” In 1779, he composed the “Iphigenia in Tauride,” the
greatest of his works. Wieland has happily expressed Gluck’s claim
upon our respect in a sentence. “He preferred,” he says, “the Muses
to the Syrens.” His works are not so much operas, in the ordinary
sense of the term, as poems, in which music is employed for
producing and sustaining emotion. Off the stage Gluck was nothing,
but upon it the musician was himself a poet. The manners of Gluck,
like those of Beethoven and Handel, were rough and blunt. He was
large in person; and his habits were indolent and somewhat sensual.
The bust discloses the man.
[From the Terracotta, by Houdon. In the musical collection of the Royal
Library at Berlin. The only bust taken from the life.]

327A. Christoph Gluck. Musician.


[From the Terracotta by Houdon, in the Louvre.]

327B. Christoph Gluck. Musician.


[From the bust by Francin (Fils) in the Louvre.]

327C. Christoph Gluck. Musician.


[From a bust by R. Wagner of Berlin.]

328. Friedrich Gärtner. Architect.


[Born 1792. Died 1847. Aged 55.]
The chief architect in Munich since the withdrawal of Klenze. His
most important work is the new Library in that city, which is
remarkable for the simple magnificence of its façade. He designed
the Palace of King Otho at Athens, and he re-opened the quarries of
Pentelicus, which had not been employed since the days of Hadrian.
Upon the departure of Cornelius from Munich, Gärtner received the
appointment of Director of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
[By Johann Halbig.]

329. Julius Schnorr. Painter.


[Born at Leipzig, in Saxony, 1794. Still living.]
First studied under his father, who was Director of the Academy at
Leipzig. In 1811, went to Vienna to get instruction there; but found
little to gratify his taste, or to encourage his genius. In 1817,
travelled into Italy, and there made the acquaintance of Ludwig,
then Crown Prince of Bavaria. At Rome worked at the Villa Massimi,
where Cornelius was also employed, and where he produced in the
space of five years his eleven frescos from the Orlando Furioso of
Ariosto. Called to Munich in 1827, he received there the appointment
of Professor of Historical Painting in the Academy, and painted for
the King of Bavaria his admirable frescos illustrating “The
Nibelungen-Lied.” In 1846, accepted an invitation to Dresden.
Schnorr is chiefly known to us by his beautiful illustrations of the
Bible. Amongst all the fresco painters of Munich he stands unrivalled
for combining individual life with ideal composition.
[From the plaster model by Ernst Rietschel, dated 1848. In the possession of
the sculptor.]

330. Ludovic Schwanthaler. Sculptor.


[Born at Munich, in Bavaria, 1802. Died there, 1848. Aged 46.]
Most of his numerous and admirable works adorn his native city.
His masterpiece is the colossal statue of Bavaria, cast in bronze, 54
feet high. The noble head of this figure forms a remarkable object in
our Court of German and English Sculpture. Before its inauguration
the artist had died, having been an invalid for the last fifteen years
of his life. Many casts from the works of Schwanthaler may be found
in the Court of Modern German Sculpture. He had the advantage of
being an excellent classical scholar, and was besides a warm-
hearted, unassuming man, simple in his manners, full of wit and
humour, and a true friend. As an artist he had a fine classic feeling,
great spirit and fire, a strong imagination, a vigorous and creative
genius.
[By Xavier Schwanthaler. Marble, 1849. The original is in the “Ruhmeshalle”
(Hall of Fame), at Munich. It was modelled from the life in 1837.]

331. Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. Musician.


[Born at Berlin 1809. Died at Leipzig 1847. Aged 38.]
The grandson of the Jewish philosopher, Moses Mendelssohn, and
the son of an eminent banker. Like Mozart he exhibited an
astonishing precocity. In his twentieth year he was already a musical
composer of great originality. Then setting out on his travels, he
visited London, Paris, and various parts of Italy. In 1834, appointed
Chapel-Master at Düsseldorf. In that city he produced, when 27
years old, his oratorio of “St. Paul.” It won the success it merited. In
1839, he composed his “Lobgesang,” or “Hymn of Praise,” by many
regarded as his masterpiece. In 1846, his marvellous oratorio of
“Elijah” was produced at Birmingham. From this period his mental
activity was prodigious, and his production ceaseless. He died,
literally consumed by the fire within him. He was a great man. His
faculties, of the highest order, were engaged in the advancement of
the purest art. His manner was unaffected, his heart warm and
affectionate. He loved England. His earliest works indicate his
genius; his latest compositions are tinged with a deeper, and more
solemn hue—but all he did was beautiful—like his mind.
[By E. Rietschel. Marble. 1848. In the possession of Alexander Mendelssohn,
the banker, of Berlin, for whom it was executed.]

332. Johann Halbig. Sculptor.


[Still living.]
An excellent German sculptor, who studied under Schwanthaler, at
Munich. The grand colossal figure of Franken (Franconia), in the
German Court of Modern Sculpture (No. 173), is by this artist.
[Modelled by himself. 1850. A commission from King Ludwig.]

333. Moritz von Schwind. Painter.


[Born at Vienna, 1804. Still living.]
Studied under Ludwig Schnorr; then under Cornelius. Since the
year 1828, has been employed in decorating with frescos the Palace
of the King of Bavaria, at Munich, and the Palace of the Grand Duke
of Baden, at Carlsruhe. His compositions from the classical
mythology, and from the modern poets, particularly from Tieck and
Goethe, are amongst the finest things which have been produced in
modern times.
[From a medallion by Ernst Rietschel.]

333*. Edward Devrient. Player.


[Born 1801. Still living.]
One of a family remarkable, like that of the Kembles in England,
for dramatic genius. His uncle was a famous actor of his time; his
elder brother is a player of repute in Hanover, and his younger
brother, Emile (born in 1803) is known in England, as one of the best
representatives of Hamlet at the present day. Edward is rather a
studious and careful artist, than a man of genius. He is also an
author of ability, his dramatic works having obtained considerable
favour.
[From a medallion by Ernst Rietschel, dated 1852. In the possession of the
sculptor.]

POETS AND DRAMATISTS.

334. Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock. Epic and Lyric Poet.


[Born at Quedlinburg, in Prussian Saxony, 1724. Died at Hamburgh, 1803. Aged
79.]
Goethe said well of Klopstock, that to him German literature owed
a debt of gratitude, for he was in advance of his time, although he
lived long enough for his time to be in advance of him. He is the
classical epic poet of Germany, as Milton of England, but with a
difference. Milton was nurtured on the overflowing bosom of English
poesy. Klopstock had imbibed no such strength at a native fount.
The sublime utterance of the one still reverberates through a world
that is still the wiser and the better for the heavenly strain. The
sonorous rhapsodies of the other already weary the ear of the land
on which they originally fell with weight and power. Few were the
admirers of England’s blind poet when he sang “of Man’s first
disobedience.” To-day they are countless. When Klopstock published
the first part of “The Messiah,” Germany was enthusiastic. The
learned were at his feet, kings craved his companionship, and the
people worshipped a prophet. To-day, a young German critic has the
hardihood to say—without being stoned for his heresy—that
Klopstock’s poems are like nothing so much as translations from
some unknown author, by an erudite but somewhat unpoetical
philologist. With the early admiration for the poet, was mingled awe
for the sanctity with which his subject had enveloped his person. He
became in a nation, what Pollock, the author of “The Course of
Time,” has been amongst a class. If he is now taken down from his
undue eminence, his just claims to respect must not be disregarded.
If Luther constituted an epoch in the moral and intellectual
emancipation of his country, Klopstock marked an era in the
progress of her poesy. Both names are landmarks, in the history of
the language, as cultivated in the service of letters. The latter was,
also, a pioneer and a reformer. His odes are striking and lofty; his
learning extensive; his piety fervent; and his poetic sensibility
profound. The thirst of communing with the soul of his native
Germany—since, a widely-possessing enthusiasm—announced itself
as a literary virtue, first in Klopstock’s writings. It spoke in the
selection of some of his themes: but was chiefly operative in his
profound and enamoured study of the language which begins, in his
verse, to discover and lavish exuberant wealth.
[By Dannecker.]

335. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Man of Letters.


[Born at Camentz, in Saxony, 1729. Died at Brunswick, 1781. Aged 52.]
A philosopher and a poet, but more of an investigator than of a
creator. Nevertheless, a strong renovator. He is named by Germany
of to-day with gratitude, amongst those who loosened the old chains
of imitation from her literature, and summoned her to think and to
write, self-conscious, from her own deep and powerful spirit.
Powerlessly enough, her drama, till his time, was borrowed from that
of a people, geographically divided from her by a river—intellectually,
her antipodes. Lessing showed her, in place of Corneille and Racine,
a foreigner, in whose kindred veins her own blood ran; and called
her to Nature and to herself, in calling her to Shakspeare. Lessing was
a critic in plastic art; witness his “Laocoon.” He was a fabulist of
great invention, fancy, and humour: witness his “Fables,” which may
take rank with those of Æsop. He was a dramatist of skill, power,
and pathos: witness his “Nathan the Wise,” and his “Emilia Galotti.”
Above all, he was an independent thinker; and a style clear, precise,
and masterly, runs through all his writings. He is one of those now
elder classics through whom the language of the country has risen
into literary rank and service.
[By Ernst Rietschel. Bronze. 1849. Erected by subscription at Brunswick. For
further account of this statue, see Handbook to Modern Sculpture. No.
200.]

336. Christoph Wieland. Poet.


[Born in Suabia, 1733. Died 1813. Aged 80.]
An exquisite artist in words, herein resembling though more
enchanting than, Lessing, whose contemporary he was. He might
seem to be a transitionist; softening the passage from the imitative
French school in Germany, to the pure German. Or you may suspect
that the foreign element is not French, but Italian, if modern,—or
Attic, if ancient. For he was a student of classic antiquity, and a
lightness of grace, and a mobile sensibility to the beautiful, which
are not German, reign over his numerous writings in prose and
verse. Some of his works are direct imitations from the Greek—as his
Dialogues after Lucian. His elaborate philosophical romance,
“Agathon,” lays the scene in old Greece. But his gift is an unrivalled
ease in the flow of his narrative verse—lively or serious—made
alluring by perpetual representation to the eye; and roving with
predilection amidst romantic scenes and adventures. His poem of
“Oberon” is a masterpiece in this kind. He seems to have prepared
for it in studying Ariosto, but engrafting upon the Italian style the
more picturesque of his own northern and later poetry. The qualities
missed in this rich, enticing, and luxurious word-painter, are
profound passion, intellectual might, and the more solemn
contemplation of the universe, natural and spiritual. Wieland was a
scholar: you feel the influence of his reading at every step; but the
springs in his own bosom well freely.
[The original marble, by Schadow, is the property of Henry Crabbe Robinson,
Esq. of London. Flaxman declared it “a perfect work, never surpassed by
any artist, living or dead.” When Mr. Robinson visited Goethe at Weimar,
and informed him that he possessed this bust, Goethe related the
circumstances under which it had been lost to Germany, and added: “You
have made me as happy as though I had recovered a lost child.” Mr.
Robinson promised Goethe to bequeath the bust to the Public Library at
Weimar, where Wieland had lived for many years. One cast has been
allowed to be taken for the Crystal Palace; and the mould has been
destroyed.]

337. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Poet.


[Born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in Germany, 1749. Died at Weimar, in Germany,
1832. Aged 83.]
For comprehensiveness and grasp of thought, for profound
knowledge of human life and dealings, for intellectual prowess, for
intimate acquaintance with various and opposing arts and sciences,
Goethe stands alone in Europe throughout the period which he
elevated by his presence and swayed by his achievements. He was a
great poet, an excellent dramatist, a fine novelist, a skilled
naturalist; with chemistry, botany, and anatomy he was familiar. In
truth, it is not easy to limit the immense domain through which his
giant mind ranged at its will, conquering and acquiring wherever it
touched. His productions are voluminous, corresponding to the
wealth of his overflowing brain. His “Faust” predominates far above
his other works in popular impression. It is the one in which he
seems the most resolutely to have committed himself to his subject.
Wild, audacious, lying as this does desperately out of the Real and
the Possible, he throws himself into his enterprise, doing it justice,
with all his gathered might. We have a feeling persuasion of this
having been his own favorite work, to which he most confided, with
love, the intimacies of his genius. The recognition of Faust, as a high
work of art, must, however, be restrained to the first part. In the
second the poet seems as though self-bewitched. Certainly, Germany
never has possessed so consummate a master, in art, of her words.
His lyrics are gems of music. They have the felt charm of grace,
rather than demonstrable worth. In the verse of Schiller it is the
other way. Ask of his Germany what constitutes the all-extolled merit
of Goethe, and you will hear for answer:—“He is the great world-
sage.” But some of the elements of true wisdom he unquestionably
lacked. Admit all his strength, his knowledge, his skill, his intuition,
and you still miss the heart lodged by Mother Nature in the bosoms
of Homer, of Shakspeare, of the compatriot and contemporary
Schiller; which, warm and large, embraced with loving and devout
sympathy all that is great and high in the souls of men. You desire,
in many of his personages, the beating pulses of simple, natural,
human affection; the exuberance of genial and generous passion;—
in himself, the possessing and tyrannizing enthusiasm, proper to the
vowed follower of the Muse. His judgments of the world show
distinguished capacity, but his pictures are not generic
representations of Man, either as reality gives him in experience to
every one of us, or as poesy would select him. Goethe promulgated
speculations on plants and colours that have been received into
science. He made other speculations during his mighty and
protracted career, which passed into the spirit of more than one
generation, to influence, guide, advance, fashion, and direct it.
[By Alexander Frippel, 1789. Modelled from the life when Goethe was in his
prime. It was done at Rome, by order of the Prince Waldeck, in whose
castle at Aroldsen the original exists. Goethe at that time allowed his hair
to grow in all its natural luxuriance. “I remember him well,” says a
distinguished friend and countryman of his; “he was then as handsome
as Apollo.”]

337A. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Poet.


[This bust is by Rauch, from the marble, dated 1820. It was a commission
from the Grand Duke of Saxe Weimar, and occupies its place in his
palace.]

337B. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Poet.


[This bust is from the colossal statue, the work of Steinhauser, executed by
order of the Grand Duchess of Saxe Weimar.]

338. Friedrich Christoph von Schiller. Poet.


[Born at Marbach, in Germany, 1759. Died at Weimar, 1805. Aged 46.]
According to the Germans, Schiller stands second in the list of
their great poets, Goethe being the first; but in the esteem of the
rest of the world, Schiller is pre-eminently the greatest of German
poets. In universality, breadth and power, his genius yields to that of
his illustrious rival; but in delicacy of perception, refinement of
feeling, intense sympathy with the passions he represents, exquisite
purity of thought and diction, and in the treatment of ideal beauty,
he is without a competitor in his own country. His manifest delight in
the delineation of pure and generous characters is not the least
grateful of his excellences. His poetry is the bright intellectual
reflexion of his own chastened spirit, as the writings of Goethe
constitute the masculine and mighty expression of his essentially
sensual nature. The German stage was formed by Schiller, whose
later tragedies gave to the drama of his country a rank that it had
never held before. At the outset of his career Schiller studied law,
then medicine; and whilst his own tastes would have led him to the
pastoral office, he found himself, at the age of 30, appointed to the
Chair of History at Jena. His acknowledged greatest work is the
tragedy of “Wallenstein.” He died of consumption, and was buried
with public honours. He conferred dignity upon the literature of his
country, and helped, more than any other man of his time, to bring
it abreast of the poetry of other nations; but the originality, beauty,
and force of his productions are not more worthy of contemplation,
than the aspiring grandeur and nobility of his moral character. He
was the friend and pupil of Goethe. The teacher was the more
consummate artist, the disciple was the purer man. Schiller exalts
our idea of humanity, Goethe lowers it.
[By Dannecker. Marble. 1805. The original was bequeathed by the artist to
King William of Würtemberg, who presented it to the Museum at
Stuttgart.]

338A. Friedrich Christoph von Schiller. Poet.


[This colossal bust was executed by order of King Louis of Bavaria for the
Walhalla.]

339. Ludwig Tieck. Author.


[Born at Berlin, 1773. Recently deceased.]
A writer in literature and art, who has exercised a sensible
influence upon the minds of contemporary authors. His narratives
reveal a powerful imagination and a profound sense of the beautiful.
In his “Zerbino” he exhibited his ideas on general æsthetics. A visit
to England in 1818 inspired him with the idea of translating the plays
of Shakspeare, and he undertook this labour in conjunction with W.
Schlegel. The translation is perhaps the best that has ever been
made in any language of our great poet. At the early period of his
literary career, Tieck delighted in the marvellous and fantastic. In
1820, his genius took a new direction, and built upon an historical
foundation, and upon observation of actual life. The present King of
Prussia charged Tieck with the direction of the theatre at Berlin, and
conferred upon him a pension. Many of his works have been
translated into English—two by Bishop Thirlwall.
[By F. Tieck. Plaster. 1836. In the Lager-Haus. The original model was done at
Dresden.]

340. Berthold Auerbach. Poet and Novelist.


[Born 1812. Still living.]
Of Jewish parents, and originally intended for theological pursuits.
Completing his education in 1832, he abandoned Rabbinical lore for
the study of history, philosophy, and general literature. In 1841, he
published a life of Spinosa, to whose doctrines he was deeply
attached, and a translation of that philosopher’s complete writings.
In 1843, he produced a much more popular and generally interesting
work, “Village Histories of the Black Forest,” which has been
translated into English, Dutch, and Swedish. Since 1845, Auerbach
has resided either at Weimar or Leipzig. He is zealous in the cause of
popular education, and, during the commotions of 1848, took part
with the moderate democrats.
[By Ernst Rietschel. Medallion. 1847. In the possession of the sculptor.]

SCIENTIFIC MEN AND WRITERS.

341. Johann Gutenberg. Inventor of Printing.


[Born at Mayence, in Germany, between 1395 and 1400. Died there, 1468.]
Nothing is known of the early history of Gutenberg, save that he
was born of a patrician family. In 1427, he resided at Strasburgh.
When and where his first attempt at printing was made, it is
impossible to say, for he never affixed his name, nor the date of
printing to any of his productions. About 1438 he first employed
moveable types made of wood. In 1443, he quitted Strasburgh, and
returned to his native place. There he met with one John Faust, a
rich goldsmith, and engaged with him to establish a printing-press,
Faust finding the money for the undertaking. The press was
established, and then, for the first time, the Bible was printed in
Latin. Business went on prosperously for a time. But, four hundred
years ago, it fared with great discoverers and great speculations as
at the present hour. Faust had made large advances, and Gutenberg
could not meet the claim. The pair went to law; and, as it falls out in
these cases, the goldsmith got the verdict. He retained the business.
Gutenberg was thrown upon the world. There he found a friend, was
set upon his feet, and established another press. In 1837, a splendid
monument, by Thorwaldsen, was erected to the memory of
Gutenberg in his native town, where the members of the Gutenberg
Society—to which many of the writers of the Rhenish provinces
belong—meet to celebrate his mighty discovery, and to do honour to
his name. Who shall fix the merit or assess the claims, or tell the
influence exercised in the world by the portentous labours, of “The
Inventor of Printing?”
[By E. Von Launitz. Plaster. 1840. Modelled gratuitously by the artist, for the
celebration of the invention of printing in 1840. For an account of the
very line monument erected to Gutenberg at Frankfort by E. Von Launitz,
see No. 175 of Handbook to Modern Sculpture.]

342. Immanuel Kant. Metaphysician.


[Born at Königsberg, in Prussia, 1724. Died there, 1804. Aged 80.]
The founder of a new philosophy in Germany. After twelve years’
meditation, he produced, in the space of five months, his celebrated
“Criticism of Pure Reason.” His main theory is, that there is only one
source of knowledge, viz., the union of subject and object; that is to
say, our knowledge is partly mental, partly physical,—one half of it
coming from the mind, or subject, the other half from the object.
The mind has its own forms which it gives to objects. Time and
space are forms of the mind, not things existing out of it. By thus
restoring to mind its independent activity he was able to oppose
Locke, proving that we have ideas independently of experience, and
to oppose Hume, by proving that these ideas have a character of
universality, necessity, and irresistibility. Hume insisted that the
understanding is treacherous. Kant declared it is only limited. For a
time, Kant’s philosophy superseded every other system in the
Protestant Universities of Germany. A man of high intellectual
endowment; his life rigorously philosophical. He lived and died a
type of the German Professor. The cathedral clock of Königsberg,
which town he never once quitted during his long life, was not more
punctual, it was said, than Immanuel Kant.
[By Fried. Hagemann. The original in marble is in the University of
Königsberg. F. Hagemann was a pupil of G. Schadow; he was born in
1773, and died at Berlin in 1806. He executed this bust at Königsberg.]

343. Heinrich Pestalozzi. Educator.


[Born in Switzerland, 1745. Died there, 1827. Aged 82.]
In a year of great dearth and distress to a Swiss Canton, he found
himself in charge of half a hundred ragged and wretched children—
in an empty barn for a school—with hardly bread for them and him,
and wholly without books, or any other usual implements of that
industry; but with a heart yearning and overflowing in love towards
his little helpless ones, and with an intellect singularly given to
resolve the complex forms of knowledge into the primitive elements
fitted, by their evidence and their simplicity, for the tender and
opening mind to receive. So driven and so gifted “he made every
child its own book.” These emphatic words of the narrative tell the
secret of that genius with which he afterwards renovated instruction
for the schools of Europe. To draw forth power—to invite the native
energies into spontaneous action—to lead on the pupil, step after
step, in creating thought, in investigating and constructing, how
slowly soever, knowledge for himself—to foster intelligence under
the kindliest influences, like a plant that wins growth in dews and
sunshine, in soft airs and showers—was the new and living
scholastic art which Pestalozzi opposed to the old tyranny of
inflexible rote, rule, and routine. But intellectual training alone, he
held for vain and pernicious. The roots must strike and feed in the
soil of the religious, rightly-governed will.
[Marble. 1809. A commission from King Louis of Bavaria. The original is in the
Walhalla.]

343.* Johann Peter Frank. Physician.


[Born at Rotalben, in Germany, 1745. Died at Vienna, 1821. Aged 76.]
One of the greatest practical physicians that Germany has
produced. In 1779, he published the first volume of his most famous
work, the “System of Medical Police,” which he states to have cost
him ten years intense study. Was Professor of medicine at Göttingen.
In 1795, invited to Vienna by the Emperor with commission to
reform the medical department of the army. In 1804, charged by the
Emperor Alexander with the formation of a chemical school at Wilna;
and subsequently received many tempting offers from Napoleon to
establish himself in France. Has written many interesting works in
connexion with his profession; but his fame as a writer rests upon
the publication already mentioned.
[The bust, which is to come, is by Rauch, in bronze. 1841. The original
belongs to the monument raised to Frank by subscription, in the House of
the Orphans at Halle on the Saale.]

344. Friedeich Heinrich Jacobi. Philosopher and Poet.


[Born at Düsseldorf, 1743. Died at Munich, 1819. Aged 76.]
The son of a merchant whose business he followed in spite of his
great fondness for literature, until an official appointment in his
native city enabled him to devote his whole time to study. In 1777,
he published “Friendship and Love,” a philosophical poem, and in the
same year was invited to Munich, where he was made Privy
Councillor. In 1781, he had a sharp controversy with Mendelssohn,
respecting the doctrines of Spinosa. In 1804, he assisted in the
formation of the Academy of Sciences at Munich, of which institution
he became President in 1807. His work published in 1811, upon
“Divine Things and Revelation,” involved him in bitter discussion with
Schelling. Jacobi was a philosophical critic, rather than the founder
of a distinct philosophical system, and his polemical works did good
service to philosophy by weeding false theories from systems already
in existence. He was an honest, diligent, and penetrating inquirer
after truth, and carried a reverent mind and a sincerity of purpose
into all his investigations. He affirmed that all our knowledge of the
divine world comes by spiritual intuition, and that all demonstrative
systems tend to fatalism.
[By Tieck, 1809. In plaster. Modelled at Munich, and now in the Royal
Museum, Berlin.]

345. Albrecht Thaer. Physician and Agriculturist.


[Born at Celle, in Hanover, 1752. Died at Mœglin, near Frankfort, 1828. Aged 76.]
Educated for the medical profession at Göttingen, where in 1774,
he took his doctor’s degree. From his youth upwards of a serious
and reflective turn, engaged in philosophical studies, and in brooding
over plans for the amelioration of his kind. He passed some time in
England, at the University of Oxford, and there attracted the notice
of George III., to whom he was appointed Physician in Ordinary.
After making a pedestrian tour through England, he visited Scotland,
and closely investigated the system of agriculture there pursued.
Henceforth he belonged to agricultural science. In 1794, he
published his introduction to English agriculture. Retiring to Celle
upon the death of his father, he founded in his native place an
institution for the education of young agriculturists. Implements
instantly improved, and a rational system of cultivation spread
throughout the Communes bordering on that of Celle. Invited to
Berlin, he quitted Hanover in 1804. Obtaining a property at Mœglin
on the Oder, through the generosity of the King of Prussia, he began
a course of oral instruction in agriculture to classes of youth
collected from all parts of Germany. His Institution rapidly rose to
the rank of an Academy, and all its Professors were paid by the
Prussian government. As an agricultural writer, the name of Thaer is
worthy of being placed beside that of our own Arthur Young, and of
the meritorious Frenchman, Olivier de Serres. He is the reformer of
husbandry in his own country, and an enlightened expounder of the
great principles upon which agricultural prosperity in modern times
rests.
[By Carl Wichmann. Marble. In the possession of Thaer’s family at Mœglin.]

346. Samuel Hahnemann. Physician and Founder of


Homœopathy.
[Born at Meissen, in Saxony, 1755. Died in Paris, 1843. Aged 88.]
He began life under good auspices. His father, a porcelain painter,
an upright and instructed man, in straitened circumstances, is said
to have been assiduous in inculcating upon him his own principles of
integrity. When, unable to support further the expenses of his
education, he was about putting him to a trade, the Meissen
professors, struck by the lad’s talents, resolved to continue his
education gratuitously, and afterwards obtained for him the same
favour at Leipzig. He embarked in his profession, and gained such
distinction, that for a whole twelvemonth, during the illness of the
celebrated Wagner, all the hospitals of Dresden were placed under
his direction. His eminence offered the fairest prospects, when he
was visited by a growing distrust of the science which he practised.
He found in it no settled and commanding principles. He saw the
ablest men, groping their way between experience and conjecture.
One law, as he thought, dawned on him; that the cure of the
disease is to be effected by the same agent which, in the healthy
body, would have produced it. On this basis he re-constructed
medicine, giving to his new system the name of “Homœopathy,” or
“The Science of Like Affections.” His disciples devoted themselves to
the creation of a suitable Materia Medica, by experimenting upon
their own healthy bodies; and it is a second discovery of
Hahnemann, if a discovery, that infinitesimal doses may be effectual
in the cure of disease. The system of Hahnemann waged war to the
knife, and it met with war to the knife. As an historical point it is
worthy of remark, that Homœopathy has spread, and is spreading,
its conquests. The honesty of the founder may stand on the single
plain fact, that by denouncing and renouncing established doctrines,
he stepped down from the safe height of his profession, into hazard
of the poverty which he had tasted, and from which he had
laboriously risen.
[By Rauch. The original bust is in marble, in the Library at Bremen.]

346A. Samuel Hahnemann. Physician and Founder of


Homœopathy.
[This is a colossal bust representing the homœopathist at a more advanced
age.]

347. Heinrich Wilhelm Mathias Olbers. Astronomer.


[Born at Abergen, in Germany, 1758. Died at Bremen, in Germany, 1840. Aged
82.]
In 1779, whilst studying medicine at Göttingen, he became known
as an astronomer by his observations on the comet of that year. He
then discovered a new method of calculating the orbits of comets. In
1802, he discovered the planet Pallas; and in 1807, after an arduous
search of three years, the planet Vesta. Olbers was by profession a
physician, and he divided his time between the practice of medicine,
and the pursuit of his darling study. His observatory was the most
complete known in Germany at his time. He wrote but little, and his
works are on abstruse subjects. His valuable library was purchased
at his death by the Emperor of Russia, and deposited in the
University of Pultowa.
[For description of this statue, see Handbook to Modern Sculpture.]

348. Friedrich Augustus Wolf. Philologist.


[Born at Hainrode, in Germany, 1759. Died at Marseilles, 1824. Aged 65.]
Son of the organist of Hainrode. In 1777, he entered the
University of Göttingen, where he gave private lessons to his fellow-
students in English and Greek, and published an edition of
Shakspeare’s Macbeth. In 1807, he went to Berlin, and took an
active part in the foundation of the University shortly afterwards
created there. Is honourably known to literature, for his erudite and
admirable editions of the classical authors, and for his bold
elucidation of many obscure points in ancient learning. His most
celebrated work, the “Prolegomena ad Homerum,” published in
1795, was directed to overthrowing the opinion, previously universal,
which saw in the “Iliad,” the entire creation of a single mind. He
argues that it is the contexture of distinct traditionary songs, the
productions, probably, of many distinct singers: thus dissolving at
once the unity of the poem and of the poet, and making out of one
many Homers. An earlier suspicion had already separated the
authorship of the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey.” Both questions are still
in full debate amongst the learned. He may be regarded as the
founder of the modern philological school of Germany; and his
“Prolegomena” undoubtedly exercised a greater influence upon
modern scholarship than any work that has yet appeared.
[By F. Tieck. Marble. 1822. In the Royal University, Berlin.]

349. Johann Gottlieb Fichte. Philosopher and


Metaphysician.
[Born at Rammenau, in Germany, 1762. Died at Berlin, 1814. Aged 52.]
He was an humble private teacher in Leipzig when he first made
acquaintance with the writings of Kant, whose views he eagerly
adopted and cherished. He subsequently (1792) introduced himself
to Kant by a work which he wrote in eight days, “A Critique upon
every possible Revelation.” This publication procured for its author
the Chair of Philosophy at Jena, in 1793, which he was obliged to
resign in consequence of his heterodox religious principles. Finding
an asylum in Prussia, he was appointed to the Philosophical Chair
first at Erlangen, then at Berlin. In 1813, he joined a corps of
volunteers, and took part in the memorable campaign of that year,
his wife accompanying him, and performing many heroic and
womanly services to the wounded. Husband and wife both took
fever in the discharge of their duties, and died. It has been said of
Fichte that he erected the temple which Kant declined to build. His
great aim was to construct a science out of Consciousness, and to
found upon it a system of morals. He endeavoured to establish the
identity of Being and Thought, and is therefore the great advocate of
Idealism, which, however, he understood in a different sense from
that taught by Berkeley. According to his theory, the realization of
the world is the complete development of ourselves—which should
tend to the beautiful, the useful, and the good. His life and death
were both honourable to his nature. Before he died, he was doomed
to see his system in a great measure superseded by that of
Schelling.
[Bust by Ludwig Wichmann. Marble. The original is in the hall of the
University of Berlin. Executed for the University.]

350. Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland. Physician.


[Born at Langensalze, in Saxony, 1762. Died, 1836. Aged 74.]
Professor of medicine at Jena in 1793, and physician to the King
of Prussia. The author of several works, the most celebrated being
“The Art of prolonging Human Life,” a book translated into many
languages. His fame in his own country was very great, and he is
styled the Nestor of German practitioners.
[By Rauch. Marble. 1833. A commission from the University of Berlin, where
the original exists.]

351. Alexander von Humboldt. Naturalist and Traveller.


[Born at Berlin, 1769. Still living.]
The mighty traveller of our own day. Filled with literature and
science, as if he had spent one life in the library, the laboratory, and
the observatory, he performed the work of another in treading
visited and unvisited plain, valley and mountain of the eastern and
western hemisphere; uniting an ardour of spirit and a vigour of
intellect rarely mated, and not often, singly matched. An author of
books that have advanced existing science, and the creator of new
sciences. His writings, conveying an account of his world-wide
journeys and scientific exploits, and treating profoundly and
originally of general physics, zoology, comparative anatomy,
astronomy, mineralogy, magnetism, and botany, are without parallel
for richness of materials, and in respect of their value as manuals for
all enlightened explorers of the marvels of nature. After a life of
almost superhuman labour, and inconceivable results, the grey-
headed sage sums up the diligence of his lengthened years, in a
survey which registers, along every line of human inquiry, the point
of progress attained in the contemplation of the Universe,—the first
half of the teeming nineteenth century having elapsed. Who else
could have achieved—who but he could have attempted—the
Atlantean service? Who but the philosopher, to whom the whole
cycle of the physical sciences is familiar—who walks hand in hand, a
friend and fellow-labourer, with their most distinguished inquirers?
Who but the scholar, before whose eyes the lore of old time lies
unrolled? Who but the workman whose strength toil cannot quell,
and whose fire age does not quench?—Spread his “Kosmos” before a
young and ardent intelligence, which has just then accomplished its
regular liberal nurture, and say “Read and comprehend.” The
comprehension exacted will, when acquitted, have added an
education.
[By Rauch. Executed in marble at Rome, 1823.]

351A. Alexander von Humboldt. Naturalist and Traveller.


[This medallion, by F. Tieck, was modelled gratuitously for a medal struck at
the expense of those who had attended a course of lectures delivered by
Humboldt, and by them presented to him.]

352. Gottfried Hermann. Philologist and Critic.


[Born at Leipzig, 1772. Still living.]
This distinguished scholar evinced, at a very early age, a taste for
classical literature, but was compelled by his father to study law at
Jena. Returning to his native city, he resolved to abandon the career
of jurisprudence for that of literature. In 1798, he became Professor
of philosophy. The foundation of his reputation was his fine work on
Greek metres, well known to English students. He translated “The
Clouds” of Aristophanes, and some tragedies of Euripides and
Sophocles. His academic dissertations are numerous, and his Latin
poems are admirable specimens of antique composition. Hermann
has rendered invaluable service to the cause of letters. Goethe said
of him, that he was “a true Sçavant, for he knew how to renew the
old and to revive the dead.” Dr. Parr placed him at the head of the
great contemporary critics.
[By Ernst Rietschel. Marble. 1846. Executed for the University of Leipzig, and
placed in the hall there.]

353. Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling.


Metaphysician.
[Born at Leonberg, in Germany, 1775. Still living.]
At Leipzig, where he studied medicine and philosophy, became the
pupil of Fichte. Afterwards filled Fichte’s vacant Chair at Jena, where
he lectured with great success. Continued in Bavaria until 1842,
when he was invited by the King of Prussia to Berlin. Is still there,
occupying as lecturer the philosophical Chair once held by Hegel. Is
often styled the German Plato. It has been suggested that he should
rather be called the German Plotinus. Schelling proclaims the
incapacity of reason to solve the problems of philosophy, and calls in
the aid of a higher faculty—“intellectual intuition.” He is the founder
of a new school of scientific thinkers, called the Nature Philosophers,
of whom Oken is the most illustrious example. He treats Newton’s
speculations upon light with disdain, although they have led to many
practical discoveries. Schelling’s views on light and philosophy,
generally, will probably lead to little more than endless disputation.
His works, nevertheless, indicate a vivid imagination conjoined with,
subtle dialectics. Coleridge, in his philosophical writings, has often
adopted and adapted the ideas of Schelling. In many respects,
Schelling’s head and face resemble those of Socrates.
[By J. Halbig. Marble. 1852. The original is in the Royal Palace at Munich. It
was executed by order of King Maximilian II.]

354. Jan Jacob Berzelius. Chemist.


[Born at Ostgothland, in Sweden, 1779. Died at Stockholm, 1848. Aged 69.]
The son of a village schoolmaster, and educated for the medical
profession. Cultivated with ardour the science of chemistry, which
then scarcely drew the attention of the medical student. Appointed
Professor of Chemical Pharmacy in the University of Stockholm, and
retained the Chair for the space of forty-two years. At home and
abroad he attained to great honour and distinction. In Sweden he
was made a noble, and he could boast of connexion with eighty-
eight scientific societies of Europe and America. His patient
investigations helped largely to lay the foundations of organic
chemistry; and to him pre-eminently belongs the honour of applying
the great principles of inorganic chemistry. He invented the use of
symbols for chemical formulæ, an invaluable method of representing
chemical changes; and was as distinguished for his researches in
analytical chemistry, as for his philosophical views of the science. His
personal appearance was that of a strong, healthy man, and gave no
indication of his intellectual power. An early riser, devoting all his
mornings to his scientific labours, and his evenings to social
relaxation. He was beloved in Stockholm.
[By Rauch. Marble. 1822.]

355. Sulpitz von Boisserée. Architect and Archæologist.


[Born at Cologne, 1775. Still living.]
A man to whom, as to his brother, Germany is indebted for one of
its most interesting and valued picture galleries. The two brothers,
and a friend named Bertram, in 1803, formed a resolution to collect
the artistic antiquities of Germany, and for years all three pursued
their object with the utmost vigour, intelligence, and zeal. In 1814
“The Boisserée Collection” already reckoned 200 works of art, and
was arranged at Cologne. It was ultimately transferred to Stuttgart,
on the invitation of the King of Wurtemburg. Many valuable
masterpieces of old masters were thus brought to light. In 1827, the
collection was ceded to Louis, King of Bavaria, for 120,000 dollars,
and in 1836 conveyed to Munich, in which city Sulpitz and his
brother established themselves. A writer upon the “Architectural
Monuments of the Lower Rhine,” and an indefatigable, as well as a
successful, day labourer in the field of his early and later discoveries.
[Bust. Plaster. By L. Schwanthaler. 1840. The original is in the Palace at Munich.]

356. Peter Kaspar Wilhelm Beuth. Member of the


Council of State in Prussia.
[Born 1782. Died 1853. Aged 71.]
Director in Berlin of the Government department of trade,
commerce, and buildings, and head of the Great Industrial Society of
Prussia. In his public service he endeavoured to advance the
principles of Free-trade, and always acted upon the idea that the
regulative intervention of government in matters of commerce
should be restricted to cases of general danger. He established many
useful institutions in connexion with his department, and caused the
issue of several works of instruction for industrial schools and for
artisans. He also introduced into Prussia valuable improvements in
manufactures, brought home by himself from the United States,
England, and France, into which countries he had travelled. An
active promoter of enlightened industry.
[By F. Tieck. 1847. Modelled for a large gold medal struck by the Great Society
for the Encouragement of Industry in Berlin, and presented to Mr. Beuth.]

357. Karl Gustav Carus. Physician and Anatomist.


[Born at Leipzig, 1790. Still living.]
The son of a painter. Intended for a dyer,—he devoted himself to
the study of chemistry; but, widening his sphere, applied himself to
medicine, and, subsequently, to anatomy. In 1811, appointed to the
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