Source: https://mokxi.com/teachers/plans/circuit-design-capstone Updated: 2026-11-11 Lesson plan # Circuit design capstone lesson plan Expert: take one product from a written requirement to a tested board: blocks, a schematic worked out on paper, part choice, simulating the corners, PCB layout, a test plan, and a revision that fixes what the tests found. 3 chapters, 7 lessons, about 4 hours, no board. Every lesson runs in the browser, with nothing to install. Start a class from this course The unit ## Objectives and materials ### By the end, students can - From a sentence to blocks, a schematic and real parts. - Simulate the corners and lay out the board. - Run the test plan, then fix what it found. ### Materials for the whole unit - Filament lamp - Full-size breadboard - Light sensor - LM393 dual comparator - Multimeter x 2 - Potentiometer - Resistor x 2 - ULN2003A Darlington array Every part is already on the simulator’s bench, so there is nothing to buy or hand out. The counts are the most any one lesson uses, if you build it on real breadboards too. Chapter 1. About 1 h 30 min ## Design it From a sentence to blocks, a schematic and real parts. Lesson | Time | What students do From a requirement to a plan Every product starts as a sentence. Turn one into numbers you can test: a 12 V lamp that comes on when a room drops below about 20 lux, with no microcontroller. | 30 min - The requirement - Blocks before parts - Sense: the divider voltage - Make it dark - Write the acceptance tests now From blocks to a schematic Work out each block with the numbers on paper: the divider, the threshold and the trip point, then why the LM393 needs its pull-up, all checked on the running circuit. | 30 min - The threshold - The trip point on paper - Just brighter than the trip: off - Just darker than the trip: on - Why the pull-up Choosing the parts Read each part against the job: the ULN2003A's ratings and its 1 V Darlington drop, an LDR's numbers that move the trip point, and the lamp a supply can really carry. | 30 min - The driver: inside its ratings? - Why not 100 %? - A different LDR moves the trip point - Fix it with the knob - The bill of materials ### Materials - Filament lamp - Full-size breadboard - Light sensor - LM393 dual comparator - Multimeter x 2 - Potentiometer - Resistor x 2 - ULN2003A Darlington array ### Check for understanding Each student finishes "Choosing the parts" on their own, without opening the hints. The simulator checks 5 of its 5 steps as they go. Then ask each one to explain, in a sentence or two, the last thing it asked of them: "The bill of materials". Chapter 2. About 1 h 5 min ## Prove it Simulate the corners and lay out the board. Lesson | Time | What students do Simulate the corners A design that works at the typical numbers is half done. Push the supplies to their limits, see why a ratio-based design shrugs off a sagging 5 V, and what a low 12 V costs the lamp. | 30 min - The 5 V rail sags 10 % - The trip point does not move - The 12 V rail sags 10 % - And 10 % high - What the simulation does not know Lay out the board Check the nets before the copper, then take the night light into the PCB view: seven footprints, seven nets, placement, routing and the design rule check, with no export needed. | 35 min - It works before it is laid out - Check the critical net - Check the lamp loop - Open the PCB view - Place, route, check - Ground and the lamp current ### Materials - Filament lamp - Full-size breadboard - Light sensor - LM393 dual comparator - Multimeter x 2 - Potentiometer - Resistor x 2 - ULN2003A Darlington array ### Check for understanding Each student finishes "Lay out the board" on their own, without opening the hints. The simulator checks 6 of its 6 steps as they go. Then ask each one to explain, in a sentence or two, the last thing it asked of them: "Ground and the lamp current". Chapter 3. About 1 h 20 min ## Ship it Run the test plan, then fix what it found. Lesson | Time | What students do Run the test plan The acceptance tests from lesson 1, run one by one with a pass or fail written next to each: bright, dark, the trip point both sides, and the supply corner. | 35 min - Test 1: bright room - Test 2: dark room - Test 3a: just above the trip - Test 3b: just below the trip - Test 4: the supply corner - The test report Final build: revision B Close the loop on the test report: find why the light would chatter at dusk, stiffen the pull-up, add hysteresis, prove it with the tests, and sign off revision B. | 45 min - The bug: chatter at dusk - First, a stronger pull-up - Add the feedback - Prove it: on in the dark, still on at 25 - It still turns off - The price: a darker turn-on - Sign off revision B ### Materials - Filament lamp - Full-size breadboard - Light sensor - LM393 dual comparator - Multimeter x 2 - Potentiometer - Resistor x 2 - ULN2003A Darlington array ### Check for understanding Each student finishes "Final build: revision B" on their own, without opening the hints. The simulator checks 7 of its 7 steps as they go. Then ask each one to explain, in a sentence or two, the last thing it asked of them: "Sign off revision B". Your class ## Teach this unit as a class Start a class from this course and its 7 lessons are assigned in one go, in order. Students join with a six-character code or printed login cards, and each one’s work comes back to you. The class tools are free for 30 days for one class of up to 20 students, with no card. The lessons themselves are free either way. Start a class from this course See the demo class More units ## Other lesson plans Electronics basics 20 lessons, about 10 h. Embedded on the Arduino Uno 16 lessons, about 12 h. Embedded on the ESP32-C3 13 lessons, about 11 h. Embedded on the Raspberry Pi Pico 7 lessons, about 6 h. Build your own fight stick 5 lessons, about 4 h. Embedded on the STM32F411 6 lessons, about 6 h. C++ on a board 13 lessons, about 10 h. Digital logic and memory 4 lessons, about 4 h. Interactive devices on the Uno 9 lessons, about 8 h. From gates to a computer 23 lessons, about 16 h. Build a claw machine 8 lessons, about 6 h. Every unit All the courses as ready-made units, on the teachers page.