Introduction to Electronics

The aim of this module is to help the student to develop knowledge and skills relating to electricity and electronics through a fun, hands-on, discovery-learning experience, supplemented by lecture-based inputs where appropriate. No prior knowledge of electricity or electronics is assumed. The module is based around the discovery-learning approach of the book "Make: Electronics" by Charles Platt. The learning on the module will be supported by lab-based activities, but it is an explicit aim of this module that with access to a selected set of suitable tools and components students would be able to undertake self-directed learning activities outside the lecture theatre and outside the lab. This module will prepare the students who are going on to take more advanced electronic engineering modules with the necessary fundamentals. It will also provide students with an introduction to some of the theory underpinning the practical aspect of the module via lectures and seminars. This will include (i) an introduction to electricity and electrical concepts; (ii) an introduction to the concept of resistance and to resistors in general; (iii) fundamentals of DC circuit analysis (e.g. Kirchoff's laws); (iv) an introduction to diodes, transistors, capacitors and inductors. The module is intended also to be a useful introduction to students from other disciplines who wish to learn the fundamentals of electronics, but who do not intend to pursue it further after completion of this module.