Freshman Class The freshman class starts the year off with an introduction to the fundamentals of electronics. This includes Ohm’s Law, DC circuits and measurements, electronic equipment usage, and tool identification. During the first few weeks of attendance to the Electronics Technology Shop, the students are issued a laboratory manual, DC Electronics. In this book you will find twenty-one laboratory experiments and eight unit examinations. The laboratory experiments are as follows: 1. Lab Equipment Survey 2. Measuring Current 3. Measuring Voltage 4. Voltage Rises and Voltage Drops 5. Shorts and Opens 6. Using the Ohmmeter 7. Measuring Resistance Characteristics 8. Light Dependant Resistor 9. Measuring Current (#2) 10. Verifying Ohm’s Law 11. Power 12. Maximum Power Transfer Theorem 13. Electromagnetism 14. Magnetic and Electromagnetic Devices 15. Determining the Sensitivity of Your Voltmeter 16. Loading Effects of the Voltmeter 17. Bridge Circuits 18. Network Theorems 19. RC Time Constants 20. Series and Parallel Capacitors 21. Using Capacitors (Heath Company, 1990 DC Electronics, Student Workbook, Third Edition 3) The first laboratory experiment will give the freshman an understanding of the tools, equipment, and components that they will be using for the next three to four years. The next three laboratory experiments (exp) will teach the freshman the use of their issued multimeter. These will also give them an understanding of the components and circuitry of the DC world of electronics. Exp five will give the freshman an understanding of basic troubleshooting. Exp six and seven will further their knowledge of the usage of instruments from two, three, and four. Exp eight introduces a component with a switch based on the amount of light that it is exposed to. Exp nine reinforces the objectives from two through four. Exp ten will use scientific methods of exploring Ohm’s Law. Exp eleven and twelve introduce a new area of electronics, power. Exp thirteen and fourteen describe how electricity, combined with magnets, can create a force called electromagnetism. Exp fifteen and sixteen, once again, further the comprehension of the features of their multimeter. Exp seventeen and eighteen will teach students how to create basic networked circuits. Exp nineteen will give the students an understanding of how clocked DC circuit function. The final two experiments begin to prepare the students for more in depth electronics, capacitors. After the labs in the lab manual, there are a series of eight unit examinations. The shop instructor can administer these at will. The purpose of the unit examinations is to reinsure that the student has an understanding of the material covered. Due to the time at which the freshman are inducted into the shop areas, this lab manual is continued into the beginning of the students sophomore year. Once the lab manual is completed, the student may move on to the next book. Sophomore Class The sophomore class starts the year off continuing the previous lab manual assigned. As stated earlier, the sophomores will shortly move on to the next book, Semiconductor Devices. This book is most likely more confusing than anything this class will see until after high school and is therefore used for the next two years. It will consist of twenty laboratory assignments and ten unit examinations. The lab assignments are as follows: 1. Lab Equipment Survey 2. Semiconductor Diode Characteristics 3. Testing Semiconductor Devices 4. Diode Rectifiers 5. Zener Diodes 6. Testing Bipolar Transistors 7. Common Emitter Amplifier Characteristics I 8. Common Base Amplifier Characteristics 9. Common Emitter Amplifier Characteristics II 10. Common Collector Amplifier Characteristics 11. PNP Transistor Amplifier 12. Junction FET Characteristics 13. Insulated Gate FET Characteristics* 14. SCR Characteristics 15. UJT Characteristics 16. Introduction to Digital ICs 17. Operational Amplifiers 18. Phototransistor Characteristics 19. LED Characteristics 20. Combining Solid State Components (Heathkit Company, Inc. 2001 Semiconductor Devices, Workbook 3) The first laboratory assignment will give the students a chance to go over the tools and equipment that they will use on this next level of electronics. The second laboratory experiment will introduce yet another area of electronics, diodes. Exp three will show the students how to troubleshoot diodes and semiconductor devices. Exp four will teach the students how to create full and half wave rectifiers, using diodes. Exp five introduces another section of diodes, the Zener. This experiment verifies the Zener’s use as a voltage regulator (57). Exp six teaches the student how to check the type of transistor they are using. Exp seven through eleven show how to create amplifier circuits using different sections of a transistor. Exp twelve moves on to, once again, another section of transistors, the Junction FET (JFET). This experiment shows how to calculate the JFET’s transconductance. Exp thirteen steps up to the Insulated Gate FET (IGFET). The purpose of this lab is to demonstrate the basic operation of the IGFET. Exp fourteen demonstrates a practical application of the SCR (129). Exp fifteen demonstrates the operation of a unijunction transistor (UJT) (139). Exp sixteen begins to prepare students for their senior year. It demonstrates the action of a typical NAND state and the complementary outputs of a digital device (147). Exp seventeen digs deeper into the digital section of electronics by introducing operational amplifiers (op amps). An op amp is an IC that takes a signal and magnifies it. Exp eighteen demonstrates the operation of a phototransistor and introduces light sensitive devices (163). Exp nineteen introduces Light Emitting Diodes (LED). These are diodes that, obviously, produce light. This experiment also helps students to identify the LED’s anode and emitter (cathode) (171). Exp twenty demonstrates how to use the three basic types of solid-state components in a circuit (177). Junior Class There is not much to discuss regarding the junior class seeing as how they spend the year continuing last year’s lab manual. The only difference is the juniors have to complete a junior project. This is similar to a senior project only they probably receive the information needed to complete the assignment. Senior Class The senior class is assigned the greatest amount of lab work and is given a minimum amount of assistance. This is to create independence in laboratory completion. The assigned lab book is titled Digital Techniques. It consists of twenty-six laboratory assignments and eleven unit examinations. The senior labs are as follows: 1. Bipolar Transistor Switch 2. Logic Inverter 3. Diode Logic Gates 4. Transistor Logic Gate 5. TTL Logic Gates 6. CMOS Logic Gates 7. Applying NAND and Nor Gates 8. The Wired AND Connection 9. Set-Reset Flip Flops 10. D Flip Flops 11. JK Flip Flops 12. Binary Counter 13. The BCD Counter 14. Counter Applications 15. Shift Registers 16. Shift Register Applications 17. Clocks and One Shots 18. Decoders 19. 7 Segment Decoder-Driver Display 20. Multiplexers 21. Exclusive OR/NOR 22. Exclusive OR/NOR Applications 23. Semiconductor Memories 24. Digital-to-Analog Conversion 25. Analog-to-Digital Conversion 26. Practical Digital Troubleshooting (Heathkit Company, Inc. 2001 Digital Techniques, Workbook 3) Exp one demonstrates the operation and design of a saturated bipolar transistor switch (11). Exp two through eight all describe how to create logic gates in different manners. Exp nine, ten, and eleven show the ways to create flip-flops. Flip-flops are used in memory. Exp twelve through fourteen teach students how to create binary counters and encoders. Exp fifteen and sixteen give an understanding of shift registers and their applications. Exp seventeen teaches the ways and means of clocks and one shots. These are use in Stable and Astable multivibrators. Exp eighteen and nineteen have a slight relation. Eighteen decodes binary signals and nineteen display the decoded signals. Exp twenty demonstrates the operation and application of digital multiplexers (151). Exp twenty-one and twenty-two burrow into the abyss of Exclusive OR/NOR gates. These are also used for memory applications. Exp twenty-three explains how to make a static semiconductor memory IC (183). Exp twenty-four and twenty-five are used to show the ways of converting digital to analog and vise-versa. This would be used for Modems. The final exp, twenty-six, finishes off the year with an understanding of practical digital troubleshooting (213). Of course, the unit examinations can be administered at any time during the year.