Math for electronics lesson plan
Metric prefixes, scientific notation, Ohm's law rearranged, ratios and tolerance, watts and squares, RMS and decibels: every answer set on a real part and proved on a meter, ending in a component calculator.
Objectives and materials
By the end, students can
- Kilo, milli and micro, and numbers with an exponent.
- Solve for any letter, and make a divider hit a percent.
- Watts and squares, and the square roots inside AC.
- Logs that turn ratios into numbers you can add.
- A component calculator that you redo for a new supply.
Materials for the whole unit
- Bench power supply
- Capacitor
- Full-size breadboard
- Function generator
- LED
- Multimeter
- Oscilloscope
- Resistor x 4
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.
Big and small numbers
Kilo, milli and micro, and numbers with an exponent.
| Lesson | Time | What students do |
|---|---|---|
| Kilo, milli, micro and megaThree resistors from 5 V to ground and a meter on the bottom one: read kilohms, milliamps and microamps off real parts, and move between prefixes without a calculator. | 45 min |
|
| Scientific notationA 12 V supply into one resistor: write currents as 1.2e-2 and 2.55e-6, multiply and divide by adding exponents, and check every answer against the resistor's own reading. | 45 min |
|
Materials
- Bench power supply
- Full-size breadboard
- Multimeter
- Resistor x 3
Check for understanding
Each student finishes "Scientific notation" 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: "Quiz: predict the current".
Ohm's law and ratios
Solve for any letter, and make a divider hit a percent.
| Lesson | Time | What students do |
|---|---|---|
| Ohm's law, three ways roundSolve V = I x R for whichever letter is missing: find a current, pick a resistor for a current you want, pick a voltage, and read a current limit as Ohm's law in disguise. | 45 min |
|
| Ratios, percent and toleranceA divider is a ratio machine: make a tap at half, at 20 percent, then knock two resistors 5 percent high and work out how far the output moves. | 45 min |
|
Materials
- Bench power supply
- Full-size breadboard
- Multimeter
- Resistor x 3
Check for understanding
Each student finishes "Ratios, percent and tolerance" 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: "Quiz: predict the tap".
Powers and roots
Watts and squares, and the square roots inside AC.
| Lesson | Time | What students do |
|---|---|---|
| Watts, squares and power ratingsP = V x I, then P = I squared x R and V squared over R: why half the volts is a quarter of the heat, and how to pick a resistor that will not cook. | 45 min |
|
| Square roots and RMSA function generator into a load, a scope for the peak and a meter for the RMS: why 1.414 shows up everywhere in AC, and why a square wave and a triangle break the rule. | 45 min |
|
Materials
- Bench power supply
- Full-size breadboard
- Function generator
- Multimeter
- Oscilloscope
- Resistor
Check for understanding
Each student finishes "Square roots and RMS" 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: "Roots you will meet again".
Decibels
Logs that turn ratios into numbers you can add.
| Lesson | Time | What students do |
|---|---|---|
| Decibels and logsAn RC low pass on a function generator: find the -3 dB point, see -20 dB a decade above it, and turn voltage ratios into decibels and back with a log. | 45 min |
|
Materials
- Capacitor
- Full-size breadboard
- Function generator
- Multimeter
- Oscilloscope
- Resistor
Check for understanding
Each student finishes "Decibels and logs" 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: "Quiz: fifty times the corner".
Boss project
A component calculator that you redo for a new supply.
| Lesson | Time | What students do |
|---|---|---|
| Boss: the component calculatorOne bench supply, three jobs: pick an LED resistor for 20 mA, a divider for 3.3 V and a load resistor's power rating, then swap the supply to 12 V and do it all again. | 50 min |
|
Materials
- Bench power supply
- Full-size breadboard
- LED
- Multimeter
- Resistor x 4
Check for understanding
Each student finishes "Boss: the component calculator" 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: "Your calculator card".
Teach this unit as a class
Start a class from this course and its 8 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.