Electronics and Design at Drew
“In this class,” says teacher Burke Green of Electronics and Design, “students develop new modes of expression for their individual voice by learning new skills and creating independent and group projects. This class presents students a new way of using their voice and of understanding it.”
Electronics and Design, one of the electives in Drew’s science department, utilizes Drew’s MakerSpace to explore topics including electronics, programming, and microcontrollers through hands-on activities.
As they explore these topics, students build the skills that empower them to design their own exciting projects.
Students begin the year learning skills and working on projects like programming circuits that react to sensors. As students build their confidence and skillset, they work toward designing and creating independent projects.
The process of acquiring new skills and then applying those skills to self-directed work makes for a class environment that is rich in autonomy and discovery. “This class is much more creative than I was expecting,” says Mari ’18. “It incorporates the academic and creative really well. There’s a great balance between art and science, plus all of the math and programming that we do.”
More than creating things, the class is an exercise in intellectual discovery as the students engage in the process of independently seeking knowledge to ultimately become more autodidactic. “Everyone finds something they are into, and then they deeply explore their interests there,” says Green.
As the class syllabus says excitedly, “You will be more confident in your ability to learn things. You will build some really cool stuff in this class and solve some tough problems. You will come out of it understanding a bit of programming, electronics, and computer hardware. You will leave this class with strong critical thinking skills and more confidence in your ability to learn challenging subjects.”
The range of work in this project-based class spans from crafty, to highly specific—students must move a mechanical arm a precise number of degrees—to showy and accessible.
Throughout the year, each unit has a project associated with it where students get to practice their skills and solve problems. The units are:
Unit 1: Circuits and Light Art
Major topics:
- Ohm’s Law
- Circuit analysis (both mathematical and physical — using multimeters)
- Electronic components (resistors, capacitors, potentiometers)
- Voltage dividers
- Laser cutting software and hardware
- Soldering
Students learn the basics of electrical circuits and apply Ohm’s law to series and parallel circuits before studying more complicated circuits.
Students then design their own circuits on prototyping boards, using a voltage supply, LEDs, resistors, and potentiometers.
Next, students use the laser cutter, which will allow for prototyping parts for other projects in the year, to engrave an image into a piece of plexiglass. Students will build a support structure for the plexiglass, LEDs, and circuit board.
Unit 2: Coding in Processing
Major topics:
- Simple commands (Processing)
- Order of execution
- Basic shapes
- Conditionals
- Booleans
- Loop structures (While and For)
- Functions (pre-made and user-made)
Students begin the coding unit concurrently with Unit 1, using the programming language Processing. This language is a simplified version of Java, with additional libraries to make learning to code more visual and intuitive. Students write code and their output is a visual image or animation. Students also make simple programs.
Once Unit 1 is over, more in-class time is devoted to going over While and For loops, as well as filling and accessing data inside of arrays.
Students begin the unit by making a picture of a house. As they gain new skills, students will add multiple animations to the picture, and make it interactive with the keyboard.
Unit 3: Introduction to Arduino
Major topics:
- Basic commands in Arduino
- Order of execution
- General Purpose Input/Output Pins (GPIOs)
- pinMode()
- Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)
- Debugging with print()
- Libraries Capsense
Students receive an Arduino kit with electronics that they can carry to and from school. The Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is based on the Processing IDE and is a natural transition to physical computing. Students will complete several basic electronics and programming assignments using their Arduino board.
First, students will progress through a series of basic Arduino programming skills, lighting up LEDs. Students will use all of their programming skills from the earlier part of the class to control the timing of different colored lights.
Unit 4: Interactive circuits and sensors
Major Topics:
- Voltage dividers (pull-up and pull-down resistors)
- Programming arrays
- Interactive circuits and programs
- Capacitive Touch
Students create several circuits that use pull-up and pull-down resistors. This unit will involve direct instruction, online research, and practical applications. Students will create circuits that use pull-up and pull-down resistors in order to incorporate sensor data into an Arduino program.
Unit 5: Servo Motors
Major Topics
- Servo motor control
- Basic positioning
- Interactivity
- Pulse Width Modulation
Students learn how to use servos to accomplish simple movements. Students use example programs and analyze how they work by modifying them to accomplish simple tasks. Students write about the results.
Unit 6: Importing libraries and pre-made functions
Major topics:
- Importing and using libraries
- Reading library documentation
- Reading hardware documentation
- Research and how to learn independently
- How to learn new commands
Students work on studying hardware and software documentation. Students will import libraries for addressable LEDs (Adafruit NeoPixels), and read through the documentation. Students will call pre-made functions to control the NeoPixels. The unit culminates in a project where students build a sewable circuit that involves a sensor and addressable LEDs.
Unit 7: Transistors and power circuits
Major topics:
- Transistors
- Pulse width modulation (PWM)
Students learn the most basic types of transistor circuits, using a transistor as a switch. First, students will create a circuit that turns a larger circuit on or off using a small solar panel as a switch. Students will also use PWM and a transistor to control the speed of a DC motor. Then students will create an independent project that is controlled by a small photovoltaic cell and that incorporates other projects throughout the year.
