Spark

Experiment with elements like Rasberry Pi, circuit boards, and PCB designs!

Electrical

engineering

for

youth

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Electrical engineering for youth ✶

Our approach

At Spark, our mission is to equip the leaders of tomorrow with the necessary skills they need to succeed in an electronics-focused world. Through our SparkJr classes, we foster critical thinking and problem solving skills through experimentation with circuitry like Rasberry Pi and PCB boards. With our comprehensive curriculum and interactive teaching style, our Spark Juniors will grow to be problem solvers and innovators.

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For who?

Our SparkJr program is designed for children in grades 6-8. No prior knowledge is necessary!

We provide all materials necessary such as:

PCB boards
Breadboards
Raspberry Pi devices
Microcontrollers

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Where?

34 Okner Parkway

Livingston, NJ 07039

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When?

A 6-week program meeting every Thursday at 6pm from September 5th to October 10th.

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Key Takeaways

By the end of this 6 week course, Spark Juniors will be able to run basic functions on a Raspberry Pi circuit board and design basic PCB plans. Additionally, they will receive their own circuitry boards and our challenge plans, which include different tasks and additional resources to ensure that the curiosity we foster during our program stays with our students for the rest of their lives.

Our Curriculum

Week 1

Basic concepts like…

Capacitators
Resistors
Diodes
Voltage/Wattage

We’ll start by experimenting with breadboards and learning the functions of each component. At the end of the class, each child with receive their very own breadboard kit along with a challenge packet, which assigns them tasks to do in preparation for our next class.

Week 2

With a strong foundation to electrical engineering, children will spend the majority of the class analyzing the circuitry and using different breadboards to evaluate optimal efficiency. They will also begin to recognize and use external processing tools like sensors and photoresistors. With expert guidance, students will slowly begin crafting their own solutions using breadboards. At the conclusion of the lesson, students will receive a challenge packet that requires them to draft and engineer a solution to a real world challenge.

Week 3

Halfway through the program, SparkJr students will discover the intersection between computer science and electrical engineering. With the power of coding, students will learn to command the different microcontrollers in their breadboards. We will spend this class establishing the basics of coding as it pertains to electrical engineering. At the end of the class, students will be able to code basic functions and command sensors like motion, touch, and light sensors. They will receive another challenge packet that will assign them a real world problem solve, which they will present during the following class.

Week 4

At this point, students will be comfortable with microcontrollers and simple commands. So, during the fourth week, they will begin to learn wireless automation and connectivity. After a brief lesson on how Wi-Fi works, students will experiment with simple wireless technologies and slowly learn to program without cables and instead use Wi-Fi to establish a connection between their device and computer. In addition to Wi-Fi, they will also get a feel of other wireless platforms and learn to evaluate each one for key principles like efficiency, cost, and maintenance A commonly used exercise in college-level computer science classes, this will teach SparkJr students how to apply their skills in real world settings.

Week 5

On Week 5, students will use the foundation they gained to analyze some real world examples of electrical engineering. Starting with the most prominent one, home automation, students will learn about IFTTT, a platform that makes home automation easy to implement. They will also receive a new device called a MQTT, which will support many home automation functions. By the end of this class, we aim to have our students be able to run basic home automation functions on their own. This will be their challenge for the week, as we will provide them with a microcontroller and a lightbulb and they will be tasked with the challenge of automating it.

Week 6

As we approach the end of our session, students will be challenged to apply their knowledge and come up with a solution to an everyday problem they face. By implementing the technology concepts they learned, they will eventually present a final project. As we part ways, students will receive a certificate of completion and a goody bag with fresh cables and breadboards so they can experiment on their own.

Our pricing

6 week course

$140

Questions?

Reach out now!

Email: mahi@learnatspark.com