Building Simulators

This is a special forum devoted to educators using Adafruit and Arduino products for teaching.

Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
Locked
irrationaljared
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2013 1:42 pm

Building Simulators

Post by irrationaljared »

I've been working on a new online resource for teaching people about circuits:

http://puzzleschool.com/puzzles/circuitous

It's in a very beta stage right now. Before I go too much further with it I'd love to connect with people who might find it useful to use in class or with a group of makers. I'd also be more than willing to explore a different topic, such as arduinos if that would be more useful.

In the end I'd just like to try and make learning about these topics more accessible and enjoyable. If no one out there is interested in such resources that's good to know as well. I don't want to focus on creating resources that no one wants to use :)

In any case any feedback would be most appreciated.

1chicagodave
 
Posts: 564
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2013 3:35 am

Re: Building Simulators

Post by 1chicagodave »

That's pretty fun! :0
Nice work


Caught myself "playing" for longer than I thought.

irrationaljared
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2013 1:42 pm

Re: Building Simulators

Post by irrationaljared »

Thanks :) I've received similar feedback from a lot of people.

I'm still trying to figure out where to take it. It's nice that people enjoy playing with it and hopefully learn something while doing so, but my hope is that it can become a more impactful resource...

1chicagodave
 
Posts: 564
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2013 3:35 am

Re: Building Simulators

Post by 1chicagodave »

I didn't run through all of them. So, perhaps I should before commenting further...?

Is there any limit as to how many or what kind of components you can have?
I think I remember a few 'puzzles' in which the user needs to 'correct' or change the circuit to meet a certain criteria. More of that may be good — Troubleshooting!

Think about (or just peruse forum posts) for the most common mistakes people make. Focus on that.

Transistors! That seems to be a HUGE area of misunderstanding & confusion....to newbies and people who've been working with circuits for years. That may make a nice, and popular, area of focus.
• How does voltage on the base affect current flow?
• Bias
• NPN vs PNP


It seems a big problem a lot of new people have is understanding what voltage is.
• What if GND is not 0V?
• What is negative voltage?

Current -
• Which way does it "flow"?
• "Conventional" vs "Electron" flow...?

Diodes & LEDs
• Which way to connect
• Voltage drop
• Current limiting (BIG ISSUE for people)

Maybe a good place for inspiration, one of my favorite websites — talkingelectronics.com
He has a lot of great example circuits. Maybe you could incorporate some of them? Leave them incomplete...or connected wrong? Have the user finish/fix them?

Is there any way to teach how to use a DMM? Where & how to connect it to read voltage vs current vs etc....?

— Just trying to think what common questions are.
Maybe you could also look into common google searches for related questions. That's a great way to discover what people are trying to learn.

Good luck!

irrationaljared
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2013 1:42 pm

Re: Building Simulators

Post by irrationaljared »

Wow, thanks this is great stuff.

I'll definitely dig through the forum posts and check out talkingelectronics.com

Thank you for the thoughts.

Locked
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.

Return to “For Educators”