Hey There, I’m a teacher at Gungahlin College that is looking to increase my very limited knowledge on making and hacking. I’m teaching a class soon called “lights and sound” with lower ability students and would love to come up with a cool project (perhaps an electronic circuit) for them to complete that would involve both light and sound. It would have to be cheap (per student), and challenging but achievable. I’ve looked at cool stuff on site like the Make website (e dice, POV etc.) but really need help from someone with more knowledge and experience - you guys! We have awesome equipment at the school including a laser cutter and 3D printer as well as bread boards, soldering irons etc. Let me know if you have any ideas or are keen to help out. Help me to create the science classes you would have loved in your schooling.
i would be keen to help, Stephen. Hopefully others will come up with some ideas for a suitable project. How many students are we talking about? Will they work individually or would you prefer a group project (or something that can be done in small teams)?
If you could breadboard a Theremin, that would be a cool audio project. http://www.thereminworld.com/schematics has a lot of different designs, most are perhaps a little too intimidating but this one looks deliciously simple & easy - hopefully not too good to be true: http://www.thereminworld.com/pics/schematics/simple.jpg
That sounds great. The class is around 23 students. I would definitely want to get them to work in small teams and potentially on different projects depending on their abilities. Some will take off with it, others will be intimidated by simply looking at a soldering iron.
Love the idea of a thermion but am such a noob I have no idea whether that simple circuit diagram is easy or hard to make.
I’d second the breadboard. Even as someone who has worked with electronics for years, they’re just such a great sandbox for testing out circuits. Even if you do screw up, and haven’t blown anything (rarely happens on simple circuits), you can simply unplug and start again.
Best bet is to try and convert a circuit to a breadboard layout. I can help with this if needed. The advantage is that with students of a lower ability, you can introduce them to a circuit this way, and you can also have them make it permanent on a veroboard (a PCB with the lines already drawn, in much the same way the breadboard is, without much extra effort. The students can be comfortable as they’re essentially working on the same layout, just flipping it over and dropping some solder onto it.
If you’re keen to start them off on the bare basics, I can help out sharing some early soldering tactics I learned in TAFE that stay with you for life. It’s pretty mundane, but it makes it easy to understand just how solder “flows”. 
Unless somebody actually has Theremin building skills that project is going to be really hard. Mainly due to the fact that whilst the circuit board is ‘easy’ the calibration will require lot’s of work. If somebody had 5+ years of experience in making Theremins and they are willing to help out, then yes, go for it.
I’ve been fortunate enough to work in Educational projects here and overseas. Generally speaking, the way they work is that they find some technology in a niche. Present that to the students, and continue to evolve that project over time according to internal and external influences.
So, with this in mind, I’d suggest something that uses RGB Leds, a microprocessor (maybe something around the $1 price range), and possibly an amplifier IC (there’s all new technology for this now - nothing like before - just one IC).
Perhaps something that wil make an RGB LED flash in different colours if you connect it into a mobile-phone headphone Jack and play music ? Add a little speaker as an option perhaps.
Soldering isn’t for everyone and there are some pcb makers now who can presolder all SMD parts on at the factory in china before they are shipped. Or there are still companies in Australia that can do this too.
I’m pretty sure that the cost can be kept under the $15 per kit.
Thanks for all the advice. Perhaps to go from here you could provide me with a list of parts for the project David suggests and I will go buy them. Then if people are okay with it I can turn up to the shed for a tutorial?
I was pretty much talking about something like this kit from Jaycar:
with a speaker like this:
9V battery + Connector:
- http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=SB2423
- http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=PH9232
Audio Connector:
- some wire
That’s more than sufficient for a first sitting. You’ll need to think up a case design. It’s certainly possible to lasercut/cnc/3D-print something very nice with access to those tools.
The other things I mentioned probably need to go into a second/third sitting.
Like I said before, if you want something that’s essentially the same but no soldering, here is the alternative: www.dx.com/p/lm386-chip-20-gain-audio-amplifier-module-blue-222010
Regards
David
I’ll go get all this stuff from Jaycar. We have a laser cutter at the school so part of their project could be to come up with a design for a case - wood or acrylic. I love the idea of them being able to make something they can plug their phones into to play music.
I don’t really know what days you have the space open but would I be able to come on perhaps the 6th or 13th of September for a lesson in how to put this stuff together as well as learn what the components do?
Another option to consider is visiting the Questacon Technology Learning Centre where they have a class set of Arduinos and lots of components and sensors. They run school workshops:
http://www.questacon.edu.au/qtlc/whats-on-offer/school-workshops-at-qtlc
That is a great idea Brenda. I’ll check this out as well.
David, is it possible that the champ kit would power a larger speaker?
On 2014-08-30 12:02, Robeywankenobee wrote:
David, is it possible that the champ kit would power a larger speaker?
Sure - but at what would be regarded as a soft/medium level, with not that strong bass.
The output ‘volume’ is dependent on the input voltage. More than 12V is a bit dangerous for young fingers, but it will give a room full of sound (with a little distortion too). 5 or 9V is more child friendly.
These are '80s technology IC’s. They’re totally obsolete now and have been replaced to a large degree with D-Class IC’s that are more powerful and have better sound quality.
D-Class, or Digital-Amplifiers work a completely different way. They chop up the sound with a PWM, then amplify each slice then send that to the speaker.
The old style Analog Amplifiers try to track the input signal wave then copy that across to a higher level on the output circuitry via Transistors or Mosfets. But they are good for learning and are kept because they are totally enough for many commercial applications (think lift-music).
One last thing, the LM386’s are mono. So for stereo you need two of them. D-Class amplifiers usually come with two channels already. So they can actually end up cheaper to make something useful/useable.
But at the prices of the electronics these days, students could almost make up both and then compare the sound quality and characteristics for themselves.
Analog systems are an important learning step, because they’re the basis for so much of what we have today anyway.
Regards
David
Hi Stephen,
I am a volunteer with ICT in Schools, working with teachers at Gangahlin College and I can probably help. If you are interested then contact me (ask Conan).
Hello Eyal, Bruce said you would be in touch. Actually I plan on going to the meeting at the space tonight to meet David (another member). will you be there?
You mean “Electronics Wednesday” at 6pm? I can easily be there for a while.
I hoped Conan would give you my email so we can take this off the forum as I do not think my message contributes much to the topic itself.
I did not yet find how to send private messages from the forum. I do not think that this 