Electronics: Shockingly Different!
Put down your pencil and pick up some real electrical equipment!
You might be interested in electronics if...
You are a student who enjoys hands on learning, and have an interest in figuring out what makes "electrical stuff" work. You will design and build an electrical project that you get to take home to keep.
Taught by Mr. Spademan, electronics is a great complementary course for those heading towards engineering and other science disciplines, or are thinking about making the big bucks as a journeyman electrician!
Courses
Approximately 80% percent of class time will be spent on practical lab work, exercises, and building projects. The remaining 20% will be spent on theory.
Electro-Technologies Intro - 3 credits
Jump into the world of electronics with this hands-on, beginner-friendly course! You’ll learn how to solder, explore a variety of real electronic components, and discover how everyday circuits actually work. Using DC power sources and a multimeter, you’ll measure voltages and resistances just like a technician. You will also master breadboarding techniques as you build multiple circuits to sharpen your skills. Then you will virtually connect with a robot and learn to program it using RobotC. Once you’ve got the basics, you’ll take on challenges that put your robot-programming abilities to the test. To wrap things up, you’ll build your very own electronic project—a working strobe light that you get to keep!
Electro-Technologies Inter - 3 credits
Prerequisite: Electro-Technologies Intro
Get ready to step deeper into the world of digital electronics! In this course, you’ll uncover the building blocks of digital systems by experimenting with logic gates, constructing circuits, and running simulations in Electronic Workbench. You will take on a hands-on tech challenge: fully disassemble a working computer (the easy part!) and then put it back together to confirm it still runs (the satisfying part!). Using the VEX robotics platform, you’ll identify components, interface with sensors and motors, and design small-scale robots that respond to your programming. Through a mix of construction techniques and programming strategies, you’ll tweak and tune your robot to take on a variety of tasks. Two in-class tournaments will put your robot-building skills—and your competitive edge—to the test! Finally, you’ll finish the course by creating your own digital electronics project—a Digital Siren you get to keep!
Electro-Technologies Adv - 3 credits
Prerequisite: Electro-Technologies Inter
In this advanced electronics course, you’ll dive deeper into the world of circuits, tech, and hands-on experimentation. You’ll get to explore and control real electrical components—capacitors, transformers, oscilloscopes, ohmmeters, and more—just like an engineer would. In the lab, you’ll build rectifier circuits and discover how easily AC power can be converted into DC. Even better, you’ll see voltage and current come to life on digital oscilloscope screens, giving you a true, practical understanding of how electricity works. If you’re thinking about engineering or tech in post-secondary, this course is the perfect launchpad. Using the Arduino Uno platform, you’ll breadboard circuits and use C++ programming to bring them to life and customize how they behave. By the end of the course, you’ll design and build your own fully functioning stereo system, which you get to keep.