Teaching electronics

Will be teaching an "Intro to Engineering" class to a group of 18 gifted hi= gh school seniors this fall. Total of about 60 hours. While the main emph= asis will be on manufacturing and good professional practices, it would be = nice to sneak in about 6-8 hours of electronics. =20 I'm thinking about digital logic, boolean functions and maybe some very lig= ht circuit analysis. The students have already had a small exposure to robotics.

Any thoughts and pointers to packaged curricula would be appreciated. I kn= ow 6-8 hours is laughable, but otherwise it would be 0 hours.

Thanks for all comments, suggestions.

Ivan Vegvary

Reply to
Ivan Vegvary
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school seniors this fall. Total of about 60 hours. While the main emphasis will be on manufacturing and good professional practices, it would be nice to sneak in about 6-8 hours of electronics.

circuit analysis.

6-8 hours is laughable, but otherwise it would be 0 hours.

If you are going into digital electronics spend some time on the binary number system.

Tom

Reply to
Tom Biasi

Is there any reason explaining why he should do it?

Pere

Reply to
o pere o

Well because it's the basis of digital logic.

Reply to
Tom Biasi

school seniors this fall. Total of about 60 hours. While the main emphasis will be on manufacturing and good professional practices, it would be nice to sneak in about 6-8 hours of electronics.

circuit analysis.

6-8 hours is laughable, but otherwise it would be 0 hours.

If these really are "gifted" students, they've probably already had significant exposure to Boolean logic and number systems (at least binary).

BTW, why manufacturing and what are "good professional practices"? I wouldn't leave out a bit of economics, either, though you have a *lot* to cover already! ;-)

Reply to
krw

high school seniors this fall. Total of about 60 hours. While the main emphasis will be on manufacturing and good professional practices, it would be nice to sneak in about 6-8 hours of electronics.

light circuit analysis.

know 6-8 hours is laughable, but otherwise it would be 0 hours.

You are correct. I overlooked the "gifted" part. I would see what they know anyway.

Tom

Reply to
Tom Biasi

There are tons of logic designs that have nothing to do with numbers. And if you have 6-8 hours it would be a waste of time talking about binary number systems.

Pere

Reply to
o pere o

Really?

Reply to
Tom Biasi

high school seniors this fall. Total of about 60 hours. While the main emphasis will be on manufacturing and good professional practices, it would be nice to sneak in about 6-8 hours of electronics.

light circuit analysis.

know 6-8 hours is laughable, but otherwise it would be 0 hours.

Well, we did arithmetic and base conversions in all bases up to 32 (where we sorta ran out of characters to represent the digits ;-) when we were in grade school. Of course, that was in 1962-3, so perhaps it is a college course now. ;-)

Seriously, if there is a "gifted" program, they should already have this stuff. You're absolutely right, though, the OP really needs to find out where they are and what knowledge can be assumed. With a time budget that limited, it'll be essential to fit right in. There won't be much time to go back and teach fundamentals if he wants to get any "electronics" in there. If he starts with fundamentals, there isn't time to get to the fun parts.

Reply to
krw

A good grounding in basic electrical theory is most important, IMHO. People who get their heads stuffed with digital early on never do fully understand electronics, IME.

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Reply to
Fred Abse

I tend to agree with this. I spent time with basic electricity DC before even discussing AC and then Digital way after the time the OP has.

Tom

Reply to
Tom Biasi

18 gifted high school seniors this fall. Total of about 60 hours. While t= he main emphasis will be on manufacturing and good professional practices, = it would be nice to sneak in about 6-8 hours of electronics. =20

ry light circuit analysis.

know 6-8 hours is laughable, but otherwise it would be 0 hours.

I guess by gifted, I meant that they all get good grades and have had trig = and are taking pre calculus. =20

Judging by the comments below, I'll spend 1/2 to one hour on the binary sys= tem and the other 7 hours on DC electricity and simple circuits. In additi= on to field trips (Boeing, Precision Cast Parts, Freighliner etc.) and brin= ging in lecturers from different engineering disciplines, we will be having= a bridge-building contest, the passe egg-drop contests, learning about sig= nificant figures, tolerances, mechanical devices (gearing, geneva motions, = torque etc.) and proper engineering documentation and note keeping. Most o= f this stuff will be Solidworks based. They have already had one full year= of Solidworks (3D modeling program).

BTW, this is a charter school.

Ivan Vegvary

Reply to
Ivan Vegvary

gifted high school seniors this fall. Total of about 60 hours. While the main emphasis will be on manufacturing and good professional practices, it would be nice to sneak in about 6-8 hours of electronics.

light circuit analysis.

6-8 hours is laughable, but otherwise it would be 0 hours.

are taking pre calculus.

and the other 7 hours on DC electricity and simple circuits. In addition to field trips (Boeing, Precision Cast Parts, Freighliner etc.) and bringing in lecturers from different engineering disciplines, we will be having a bridge-building contest, the passe egg-drop contests, learning about significant figures, tolerances, mechanical devices (gearing, geneva motions, torque etc.) and proper engineering documentation and note keeping. Most of this stuff will be Solidworks based. They have already had one full year of Solidworks (3D modeling program).

Try not to let the 7 hours of DC theory get boring by just going over diagrams and calculations. If possible have a demo for each theory presented. Something they can see work. Have them build things and take measurements and compare the results to their calculations. Good luck.

Tom

Reply to
Tom Biasi

Great idea. Thanks for the suggestion.

Ivan Vegvary

Reply to
Ivan Vegvary

I see that you live pretty close to me (I'm in Boring.) If there is room to consider some help, let me know what you are thinking of and perhaps I can help out.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Kirwan

Hi Jon, YES we are neighbors. I live in Sandy, OR. My phone number is five oh three, seven three seven, nine nine three one. Please give me a call. I need all the advice available.

Ivan Vegvary

Reply to
Ivan Vegvary

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