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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?

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  • I highly recommend a few SUPER simple, Super quick exercises just to to stress how the electrons flow and the how the power rails work.

     

    1) Draw a circular circuit of  Battery > Resistor > LED.

    2) Show them what direction the sockets are connected

    3) Show them the Power Rails

    4) Wire the Battery > Resistor > LED on the breadboard, stressing the flow of the circuit.

    5) Add the complexity of a push button / switch to the diagram and then to the circuit

     

    I know its super over kill simple, but it took seeing it in that order for me to put aside my apprehension/prejudices about breadboards being "complex and scary" when I first started.

     

    Phil

  • in reply to fmilburn

    I found these elsewhere on E14 where they were posted by shabaz and thought them worth repeating here:

    1 - 200 Transistor Circuits

    and

    101 - 200 Transistor Circuits

    and

    50 - 555 Circuits

    and

    100 IC Circuits

     

    Regarding the MSP430, if used for beginners then have a look at Energia which is a fork of Arduino:  Energia

  • in reply to e14phil

    That's a really good point. Learning electronics has been a constant struggle for me. Learning to read a diagram and knowing how to make that translate into parts on a breadboard really connects the dots. As someone that tends to learn quickly, I've tried starting with more complex circuits and projects and struggled to really understand how they work. I could make them work, but didn't understand what was happening within the circuit. Sometimes starting at the very basics is what is needed to create a solid foundation for more advanced learning later. Thanks!

  • in reply to makerkaren

    Back in Tech School (1970), they started with Ohms law and had us play with resistors and DC voltages.

    Then we moved on to capacitors, inductors and AC voltage.

    We then worked up to using tubes to build circuits.

     

    At every step, we worked with simple circuit designs to get everyone familiar with circuit layout and how to trace the circuit from input to output.

     

    It takes a while to make this process intuitive.  Persistence is required.

     

    Keep at it until it becomes second nature.

     

    DAB

  • in reply to makerkaren

    I think 's list is on spot, I could add few more which can come after his list and are very easy on the budget.

    • Explain how a switch works (battery + resistor + led + switch), here you can explain with push buttons Normally Open/Close and maybe add examples with a slide switch.
    • Ohm's law: using different resistor's values changes the led brightness (battery + various resistors + led)
    • Dimmer (variable resistors): (battery + potentiometer + led + switch). Here they can learn how a Potentiometer works.
    • Demonstrate how capacitors work -Charge/Discharge- (battery + electrolytic capacitor + resistor + led)

     

    Moving to some more complex, transistors / 555 can be added to the mix and they all re-use previous concepts learned (capacitors, ohm's law, switches, variable resistors)

    • Blinking led's
    • Dimmer
    • Police siren

    I know micro-controllers can be too advanced, but if you ever get there, all examples above can be done easily with very few lines of code using an arduino or ATtiny micro-controller. Very good example here.

     

    Luis

  • - 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.

  • 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.

  • Static electricity is always good to get kids and adults thinking......

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViZNgU-Yt-Y

     

    and  other experiments can be cool too:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7ljY6285CE

  • Looks like  a great board. Though it's totally flat but the design looks new to me. I would like to get more info on this. lol