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Getting Started on a Breadboard

makerkaren

I run workshops to teach STEM basics, sometimes to adults, often to children. Soldering is not always an option, so I've been trying to come up with simple projects to build on a breadboard with fairly inexpensive parts, to show how to make a circuit that does something visually obvious, such as turn on a motor or lights. The groups that organize these workshops frequently have very low budgets to where they couldn't afford enough Arduino or Raspberry Pis or the like for the entire group. I'm frequently given a $50-100 budget for anywhere between 6 and 30 individuals. What fun projects could be built on breadboards that are simple enough for a child to be able to understand? I've found that the best received projects are ones with a result that is the kids can see; a light turns on, a motor spins, etc.

One of the goals of these projects would be reusing the parts for other projects or with another group, so nothing with the project should be destructive.

What simple circuits helped you to learn electronics?

Parents

  • - what other resources if any do you have access to in addition to your budget ?

     

    Could you manage to use online services like Tinkercad Circuits (formally circuits.io) to make the budget go a bit further ? With the likes of Tinkercad you get free scopes, meters, signal generators, etc. which allow the student to explore electronics in an interactive manner. Sure there are limitations to simulation but it is a low cost way to get through some of the basics.

     

    If 'teacher' has access to an ICSP programming device, then you could perhaps buy a bag of cheap AVR microcontrollers and program them up to perform different functions that can then be dropped into the breadboard to turn the Tinkercad simulations into physical projects but without the full expense of an Arduino development board.

     

    Students will feel like they have achieved something very quickly and then once 'hooked', you can start to bring in more of the theory.

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  • - what other resources if any do you have access to in addition to your budget ?

     

    Could you manage to use online services like Tinkercad Circuits (formally circuits.io) to make the budget go a bit further ? With the likes of Tinkercad you get free scopes, meters, signal generators, etc. which allow the student to explore electronics in an interactive manner. Sure there are limitations to simulation but it is a low cost way to get through some of the basics.

     

    If 'teacher' has access to an ICSP programming device, then you could perhaps buy a bag of cheap AVR microcontrollers and program them up to perform different functions that can then be dropped into the breadboard to turn the Tinkercad simulations into physical projects but without the full expense of an Arduino development board.

     

    Students will feel like they have achieved something very quickly and then once 'hooked', you can start to bring in more of the theory.

Children
  • in reply to beacon_dave

    I've frequently done these workshops in a basic classroom, or activity room. Access to computers, laptops, or tablets cannot be assumed. With the workshops I've done, they are rare, in fact. I get some tables and chairs, and then whatever parts I can bring, that's it.