Workshop reflection

fast paced, non structure (neither good nor bad, just different)

digital comfort zone

use things mindfully → people would spend a lot of time just looking for stuff. Prepare a little kit with only the right ingredients for each student, so we won't have to waste too much or have to put things back for others

it would be good to have some info about /how/ to organize the materials and tools.

In the wild/getting out of the lab was good. Nice to know the mindset of a designer isn't so different from that of a biologist/scientist in some ways

Firefly/nature really solidified the connection between electronics and nature. More of this.

Good to not give the answer right away, let people experiment and play.

Wanting to still learn about transistors and ICs and learn how to read an electronics diagram.

Concepts (terminology, definitions)

Circuit diagrams (each circuit that gets made should have a diagram)

Tools (multimeter, solder, etc)

Materials (Copper tape, resistors, etc)

Tracing the circuits on the PCB was challenging. The goal is to make them feel like they understand what's going on inside an electronic product, to make them feel comfortable looking at electronics and demystifying some of the "black box." Previous years took apart a toy piano, this creates a lot of waste even though it is a very good exercise.

PCB tracing was also challenging because drawdio kit made two circuits on the same board to accommodate surface mount PCBs. That was confusing. Should talk about surface mount but don't need to actually have that added confusion. Circuit diagram was also confusing because of that, Adafruit just exported a diagram from CAD and didn't explain.

Questions: How is a PCB made? Will we learn how to make things like this?

For future: instead of trying to create a circuit diagram, create a poster with all the components, symbols, and a bit of information about what they do.

Debrief of how the timing circuit works could be better explained; we want students to understand how variable resistance translates to sound (using the ratios of the resistors in the timing circuit)

Coin cell holder should be pre-made by instructors in advance. Battery holders turn out to be a really important part of the rest of the class. Maybe students should even make their own alligator clips and test leads/tongues

Firefly activity was loud and chaotic :D but fun! If we want students to attract fireflies, maybe split into groups (have 2 known areas where fireflies come out) and have one or two folks blink at a time.

Breadboards need a fucking zine, let me tell you. They are super important but extremely hard to understand and visualize.

Solar panels: fun as exploration, fun to make LEDs turn on and off. Maybe don't get carried away with bigger motors and cars, let's stick to vibration motors first. Then everyone can follow along because want to explain energy storage (batteries) for larger motors!

Then prepare a better exploration for wind/hydro.

Need more reed switches! They're cool and they break easily, and lots of people want to use it.

Potentiometer activity might be good to have closer to the drawdio activity. It can help to solidify concepts and help to understand when to use carbon paint vs. just copper tape. (want to create a resistance? or want to create a connection?)

Probably good to learn about transistors here, as simple switches to turn things on and off or reverse the switch.