EEVblog #337 - HSC School Electronics Projects

Some electronics projects from the 2012 HSC students at Mater Maria College in Sydney.

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[AlexM]

We didn't have anything like this at my school, in fact the only electronics related thing we ever did was the battery and light-bulb thing in science. Computer classes were mostly Microsoft office orientated too.

In-fact most people at my school only seemed to be interested in sports.

[nrdesign]

All I know about electronics today I had to teach myself, via the internet, books and experimental kits. Nothing like this electronics course has ever happened in my school.

[richycline]

My high school electronics teacher was an alcoholic. One time students found him passed out inside a closet before class. We just watched movies and practiced picking locks. This guy is a great teacher lol.

[SeekerofYab]

I recently finished an electrical technology associate's @ a 2-year school and we didn't do anything even near the scale (on the final project) of what these kids are doing for a single class in high school. I'm absolutely blown away by these projects.

[BeerTower]

Oh god, I did GCSE Electronics. Our teacher was clueless to the point where he thought sockets themselves were chips and didn't need anything plugged in. I fondly remember that one wasted lesson when we "troubleshooted" that issue.

[nerdyrcdriver]

My high school (US) had a decent electronics class, but after school activities like computer club, science olympiad, and engineering club are what actually taught me electronics. I worked very closely over 4 years with the electronics teacher and we covered so much more than the class. I was basically like a TA when I finally took the class my senior year to fill a void in my schedule. I participated in the CO-OP program my senior year as well and that helped me find my current job at an actual engineering/manufacturing company. I was the only electrical guy there at the time (their EE moved to take a higher paying position) and faced a ton of challenges. Eventually I said we had to get someone else, and I am so glad I said it. I work directly with our electrical engineer and he taught me so much in such a short amount of time. It really put me ahead for my first year in electrical engineering technology in college. Australia might not have a great electronics program in their public schools, but if they support a good co op program that helps students find career related jobs (even if they start out as a janitor) really helps. I wasn't an employee for several months, they just gave me access to all of the supplies and equipment to build stuff and learn.

[EEVblog]

a) The largest proportion of my audience are US, so it's relevant.
b) The US has been and still is pretty much the benchmark country in terms of technology development, so it's relevant.
c) I'm more familiar with the US than most other countries, so it's relevant.

It was an off-hand comment, you are reading too much into this.

[lejink]

I had a great time in my high school electronics class- our projects were a stereo amplifier (not many watts), a mic/FM transmitter spy bug, and a taser.. A lot of us put in the extra work to make our tasers powerful enough to get a scream out of the victim. Great times for sure!

[EEVblog]

Well, this is likely their first exposure to electronics, so expecting them to design the circuit from scratch isn't really practical. Much better to give them a kit, and then have to spend a lot of time on the research and documentation. And then you have the learning that comes from problems with the kit and troubleshooting (incorrect wiring/soldering etc). I think every one of them had issues in some way, so they learned how to solve them.

[illustriouschin]

The closest thing my high school had to an electrical engineering course was making fucking race cars out of moustraps and rubberbands.

[beatsbyjocka]

this is impressive, I wish I went to a school like this

[shavono]

you have no idea how jealous i am right now... man, that looks like a FANTASTIC program for a high school. i wish my school had anything remotely close to that.

[izimsi]

When I'm reading these comments i think that in Poland teaching electronics seems quite good, at least in my secondary school(in Poland that would be grades 7th-9th) . Everyone had to buy and build a kit, and before that we had lessons on electronic components. Everyone who built it and the soldering seemed fine got an A grade(grade 5 in polish system), and A+(polish 6) for a working kit. It doesn't seem like a lot, but it's still something.

[CameronWard]

That moment when you stumble across a video of your school with your teacher and your elective course. What are the chances.

[WackoX]

At highschools in The Netherlands the closest you can choose is Electronics class, but it was only available for the 2 lowest levels in school, and not a lot of highschools are doing it anymore, it's slowly disappearing.
The things they would learn you are for example everything you need to know about wiring in a house or building, how to make a lamp being switched on by 4 different switches, lamps being switch on by sensors, switch 300 and 600 volt CEE connectors etc.

[siliconwitch]

Reminds me of my college days! =D It's great to see how much dedication these kids have put into their projects.

[AintBigAintClever]

We had a CDT: Technology class when I was in school in the UK (late eighties) which did electronics. The teacher (Terry Harding) was still there right up until he last month when he retired.
The youngsters Down Under are doing stuff way ahead of what we were doing, although I assume the classes here are keeping up with technology too.

[Rendergears]

Its impressive to see such electronics projects from school students. More importantly this is exactly what an electronics course should be able to teach students.

[Falcrist]

Dave will probably answer this himself, but I'll give it a shot:
You don't just jump into the deep end of the pool. Building and studying circuits is an excellent way to become familiar with the concepts behind the designs. This is a first step to understanding how to design circuits.

[MetaphysicalEngineer]

Even private schools in the US don't have very much electronics. As Dave mentioned, there's a bit in Physics, but it never goes much beyond the basics, and certainly nothing with active components. I had to learn nearly all of my stuff from books and online sources as I went.