Teaching electronics

Students select circuits

I have students look through many books for circuits they'd like to build. I use the Forrest M. Mims books one can get at Radio Shack, and old books from the 70s and 80s that include simple IC circuits. Sometimes a student picks a circuit that is too simple or too complex. I could instead hand out sheets that contained only the right level of circuits, but then the students wouldn't have the experience of seeing the range and learning that such-and-such circuit is not a good starter.

Components

Resistors

Learning the resistor color code is related to learning the system of scientific notation. By keeping resistors sorted by the last color in the color bands on them, students learn how the power of 10 is the most significant part of the measurement.