Due to some events that arose i will be teaching three high school students some electronics. they are all 11th grade students (over here its a 12 grade system after which you can go to uni or any other king of higher education).
Now i do not have much time to prepare for this since i start monday and will be teaching them for three days, around 6 hours each day.
The main focus of this is to give then some feel of what is electronics and what the can expect if they choose to pick electronics engineering at uni.
I would like to ask for suggestions, of what kind of assignments i could give them, that would require them to research some kind of electronic component or some kind of process. For example, researching a diode, when does it start to conduct, so that they could then draw a graph and see the characteristics of the diode. I would also like it to be fun, and i dont want them to just end up with a bunch of graphs after these lessons. I will also try to teach them some arduino coding, but two of them have never coded so if you want to suggest some project that requires coding it has to be pretty basic, and visual.
I have some ideas about introducing them to the basic components via a kit (500 in 1 electronics projets kit), then show them a multivibrator circuit, and have them solder it. After that make a multivibrator code using and arduino, and see how the square wave differs between the two, and then see how far we can go with coding. During all this i will teach them about the components they are using i.e. how to calculate total capacitance for capacitors in series and so on.
What i feel i am missing in my program is some research they could do, some parameters they could change in a circuit and see how the circuit reacts, so that they then could make some conclusions, on what kind of effect a certain element hos in a circuit.
If they don't already understand voltage, current, resistors, Ohm's law, capacitors in AC circuits, diodes and basic transistor action, it is pointless to show them a multivibrator circuit. I would start with a battery, a resistor and an LED.
That is exactly what i am planning to show them, in case they dont know how a transistor works i will give them a simple circuit with a transistor and explain how it works, before we get into a multivibrator circuit. They are motivated students, so i thing they will understand stuff a bit faster than a regular high school student.
Some sort of Thermistor circuit or Photodiode circuit - where they observe what happens resistance as temperature goes up or down, or what happens when more light strikes the photodiode
MrDropsy:
You should tell us what you are already going to tell them before doing practical activities
I do believe i mentioned that i will tell them about everything that they need to know to understand the basic principle of a multivibrator circuit and each element purpose in that circuit, also i will show them how to use a multimeter and the basics of using an osciloscope.
What i am looking for right now is some ideas for circuits, weather with an arduino or without one, that would have a 'wow' factor to them, while being relatively simple, so that the student could understand it, but also leave the lessons with more than just some knowledge on calculating circuit parameters and how to light up an LED.
Photodiodes or light dependent resistors - observe the changes with light - use a torch, or just ambient light, can easily connect to an arduino or even just a multimeter to see the differences in current and voltage (for a photodiode) or resistance for a light dependent resistor.
Thermistors - Observe the changes in resistance and temperature changes
Simple DC motors , apply a voltage, even from just a 9v battery, and make them spin - provide some info on how it does that - potential research assignment - where they would have to find out about current in coil generating a magnetic field which is what makes the motor spin.
To do some coding with arduino, you can get infrared sensors which can detect the distance between an object, there would be loads of code available online to do that - you could make it such that they need to reflect it off a very white surface and a very black surface - and they will observe that a black surface will probably not work very well as it absorbs more light - whereas on a white surface, it would reflect better - and you'd probably get an increased distance that you can measure the distance.
You could use potentiometers for teaching ohms law , varying the resistance, with an LED, and so they'll observe a change in brightness depending on the level of resistance.
MrDropsy:
Photodiodes or light dependent resistors - observe the changes with light - use a torch, or just ambient light, can easily connect to an arduino or even just a multimeter to see the differences in current and voltage (for a photodiode) or resistance for a light dependent resistor.
Thermistors - Observe the changes in resistance and temperature changes
Simple DC motors , apply a voltage, even from just a 9v battery, and make them spin - provide some info on how it does that - potential research assignment - where they would have to find out about current in coil generating a magnetic field which is what makes the motor spin.
To do some coding with arduino, you can get infrared sensors which can detect the distance between an object, there would be loads of code available online to do that - you could make it such that they need to reflect it off a very white surface and a very black surface - and they will observe that a black surface will probably not work very well as it absorbs more light - whereas on a white surface, it would reflect better - and you'd probably get an increased distance that you can measure the distance.
You could use potentiometers for teaching ohms law , varying the resistance, with an LED, and so they'll observe a change in brightness depending on the level of resistance.
Just some ideas,
Thank you. Will probably use an ultrasonic range module for some assignments. Great idea.
If you want to be dual productive, you could run your idea's to the students in this thread School Lockdown System - Project Guidance - Arduino Forum. They could probably use a suggestion or two for an activity they would enjoy. Right now they are on the path for a world of hurt. I like their determination though.
Someone suggested a thermistor. Before you show them that, it might be an idea to explain the effects of heat on a normal resistor and what 'thermal runaway' is. By choosing the right resistor and voltage, a practical demonstration of a resistor 'letting the magic smoke out' may stick in their minds as a kind of "Don't do this at home." example.
555's always a good simple place to start. Quick results and then get into changing the external components to see the changes to the output. Segue into the whole thing about RC timing.
Perhaps use the 555 astable output to PWM a motor through a transistor, then get into Arduino simple coding and PWM that way, to contrast the "hardware" solution (555 with discrete components) vs "software" (the uC solution).
How about digital logic as well? Get a handful of 74xx chips and have then see how gates work? Old school, but a great way of thinking things through. Once again, the old way can be contrasted with the coding way: inputs in either case are switches, after all.
May I suggest you start at the other end - sort of.
How about presenting some "clever" little gadget to the kids and ask them to figure out how it works. Then explain the bits/theory as you dig down through the system. Something as simple as a Christmas tree with a few flashing LEDs might be suitable.
I find it very boring to be told to learn stuff that seems to have no purpose or relevance to anything I might be interested in.
since fundamental are the key, you have a task to have them grasp and understand. if you jump ahead, they will have all sorts of mysteries in their heads and will not grasp the concepts.
starting with a battery, you can do lots of things. bells, lights, whatever. touch with a wire.
then add a switch. this is key. they may offer that you should use a switch.
then add a transistor this is also key they need to grasp the concept of the transistor as a switch.
then show how you can have multiple transistors and two switches. one switch will do one thing, the other switch will do another thing. both will do a third.
add a 3rd switch and more transistors. this can be all blackboard stuff.
but at this point the idea that by creating circuits, you can do lots of different things. the IC is just all those put into one small case. the IC will become a real thing to them and not magic.
the next question is that once they have the basics, do they need to know the nuts and bolts ? you can spend hours on just the transistor. with some simple circuits, you can light lights, sound horns, and output many things. the other side is the input. temperature, pressure, light, whatever.
since learning is a balance of doing and theory, creating a circuit,. have them make it, then make a new and separate, circuit, but to be able to be added to the first......
the car that follows the black stripe on the floor seems to be a goal of multiple small tasks.
a sun tracker is also project of multiple smaller tasks.
Thank you all for the great suggestions. These past days with the students have been great, they have managed to finish every task i gave them. We ended up focusing more on programing in the end, but all the suggestions on how and what to teach regarding the basics really helped me.
Get them involved with SPICE. Nothing captures the imagination with electronics more than a virtual circuit: current flow, virtual instruments, raw calculations, power dissapastion, voltage waveforms... It's a game and children love games.
All of the basic electronic principles can easily be taught this way. A small lecture and a follow-up lab to build the physical circuit. Then build the virtual circuit. Take measurements of the physical circuit - do the real measurements match the computer simulation? If not, why not? What is the error between manually measured vs simulated?