Week of January 28

This week, we will cover 2's complement arithmetic and the use of multiplexers & demultiplexers.  Those are very useful devices in the world of digital technology and even have applications in some non-digital scenarios.  The video for Tuesday is already posted.  Be sure to watch it before class.

Here is the vid for Thursday as well.  Should be short.  Everyone needs to get caught up so that we can move on to the FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) boards next week.  That will be FUN!

On Thursday night, we are demonstrating some of the cool toys that engineering & robotics students at RRHS get to play with at the Great Oaks Elementary Science Fair.  If you are available to help out, let me know.  We need student "ambassadors" to show the elementary students what we do in engineering (and in robotics), and the school would like some students seeking volunteer hours to help set up the displays before hand.  It is Thursday, January 31.  The fair begins at Great Oaks at 6:30.  If you could be there at 6:00 or even 5:45 to help set up, that would be great.

Don't forget about the Semi High Tech U.  The deadline to apply is Feb 6.

Week of January 21

I hope that you had a restful long weekend.  You will have about half of the class period on Wednesday to finish up your date of birth breadboards.  Be sure that I see your working breadboard, journal design work and conclusion question responses.  On Wednesday, I will assign the first activity from the next unit, which will cover octal and hexadecimal number systems.  As this is paper and pencil work, you will be able to do the activity outside of class if you need more time on your breadboard.  Regardless, be sure to finish DOB before Thursday even if you need to come in for tutorials outside of class.  On Friday, we will introduce the exclusive OR and NOR gates (XOR/XNOR) and binary adders.

Wednesday's Video.
Friday's Video.  Be sure to watch Friday.

 I will also do a journal check this week.  Make sure that you have all of the information that has been given to you; table of contents are up to date; and that each page has a signature, date and number.

Happy New Year

Welcome back.  I hope that you had a great break and are looking forward to a fantastic spring semester in DE.  The year is going by very fast, so getting in everything that we need to get done and all of the fun extra things will be a challenge.  Right from the start, we have a busy month with activities outside the class on top of continuing to learn about the digital electroincs.

In the class, we will pick back up start by learning to use the 7 segment displays used in calculators and other digital systems.  After that, we will finally learn to program circuits on the Programmable Logic Board.  It contains a programmable gate array chip that can be programmed, erased, and reprogrammed to test circuits on a "solid state" breadboard, making changes and trouble-shooting easier and faster.

I am even more excited about the flipped classroom model and already working on some new and better methods of recording videos.  Be sure to watch the video for Tuesday's class on the design and application of a seven segment display.  I will also upload a video for Thursday to help you design a circuit to display your date-of-birth on a seven segment display. (video link added)

Extra-Curricular Projects

Be thinking about teams that you would like to form to participate in the  IMAPS Digital Printed Circuit Structures workshop on Feb 21-22.  I will explain in class and provide a link with more details, but a team of 4-6 students from RRHS will have a chance to present at this professional workshop, attended and created by professional engineers and engineering faculty members from some of the same colleges to which you may be soon applying.  The conference is being held in El Paso, but the team with the best design will have an opportunity to present your project via Skype to an audience of professionals!  It should be a lot of fun and a great addition to your college applications not to mention the direct exposure that it will give you before faculty members.

Students can participate in the Stratasys Extreme Redesign 3d Printing Challenge.  The challenge is fairly open, but you will select an item that you are familiar with and improve it through redesign.  We will cover this in a later unit.  Contest entries are due February 6.  The linked web site includes contest rules and the application instructions.  You will need to submit an STL file for the 3d printer, and I can help you create that.  Winning entries in each category (and there are three) will be awarded $2500!

Don't forget about the chance to apply for the SEMI High Tech U, which will be Feb 20, 21, & 22.  It is a very fun and very educational 3 day field trip.  Of course,  you would be responsible for the school work for those days that you miss.  However, RRHS students have a chance to apply before applications are opened to students at other schools.  That was supposed to happen January 1, but I imagine that you can still get in early before too many others apply.   Dowlonad and submit your application RIGHT AWAY!

Finally, we have been invited to display and help with the Great Oaks Elementary Science Fair on January 31.  I would like for us to display some of our projects to show how exciting engineering is at high school.  We also want 3-4 students to attend and talk with these youngsters about the opportunities available to them.  Getting students interested in science and engineering early is one key to growing a strong program at our level.