Toolbox and Safety

class: center, middle, inverse, title-slide

.title[
# Toolbox and Safety
]
.subtitle[
## Programmable Electronics — Unit 0, Session 1
]
.date[
### Class 1
]

---

# Learning Targets

.lt-box[
- Identify the safety rules and norms of this lab space.
- Explain the purpose of the engineering notebook and set one up.
- Locate and identify every component in your course kit.
]

.eu-label[Essential Understanding:] A well-organized kit and a habit of documentation are part of the engineering itself — not paperwork bolted on afterward. The habits we build in session 1 are the ones that save you time in session 40.

---

# Agenda

.agenda-box[
1. Welcome & introductions
2. Syllabus walkthrough
3. Lab rules & safety norms
4. The engineering notebook
5. Kit inventory & organization activity
6. Homework / looking ahead
]

---
class: medium-font

.pull-left.w45[
<img src="assets/falvear-headshot.jpg" alt="" width="100%"/>
]

.pull-right.w50[

## About Me

- Fernando Alvear, PhD (you can call me Dr. Alvear)
- Teach Math and STEM, robotics, and programming. I did electronics as a hobby and I am excited to work with you on this.
- Office: Math Dept. · Studium: iLab, also by appointment
- Email: [falvear@sluh.org](mailto:falvear@sluh.org)

]

---

# What is this course?

This course is about how a machine notices something and responds to it.

We start with bare components on a breadboard and end with devices that sense the physical world, decide what to do, and act on it.

At every stage we ask the same question: **what is doing the deciding, and what did we give up to make the deciding easier?**

---

# Essential questions for the semester

- How does a physical quantity — light, heat, pressure, position — become something a circuit can act on?
- What does an integrated circuit hide from us, and what do we gain by letting it?
- When we replace hardware with software, what becomes easier and what becomes harder?
- What does it mean to *understand* a system you built with parts and code you did not design?
- Who is affected by a device that senses, records, or classifies — and what does the builder owe them?

---

# The shape of the semester

- **Unit 1** — Electricity & Circuits → *Automatic Nightlight*
- **Unit 2** — Logic & Integrated Circuits → *Traffic Light Controller*
- **Unit 3** — Microcontrollers → *Traffic Light v2*
- **Unit 4** — Motion & Power → *Something That Moves*
- **Unit 5** — Sensors & Protocols → *Weather Station*
- **Unit 6** — Capstone → *Showcase*

You will build a working device in every unit. The goal isn't coverage — it's that by the end of the semester you can take an idea, find the parts, read the documentation, wire it, program it, debug it, and explain it.

---

# How you'll be graded

| Component | Weight (approx.) |
|---|---|
| Engineering Documentation | 15% |
| Quizzes and labs | 25% |
| Milestone Projects | 40% |
| Capstone project | 20% |

Every milestone is graded on five equal dimensions: **Function, Circuit craft, Code craft, Documentation, Diagnosis.**

---
class: small-font

# The rules of this class

.pull-left[
**Lab conduct**
- Power off before rewiring.
- Nothing here connects to wall voltage. No exceptions.
- Safety glasses during soldering and cutting.
- Everything returns to its labeled bin before the bell.

**Partners**
- Most work is done in pairs; pairs rotate between units.
- Both partners must be able to explain the whole build.
]
.pull-right[
**Broken parts**
- Parts fail — tell me. The part costs less than a dollar; the diagnosis is the valuable part.
- Hiding a dead component wastes someone else's period next week.

**Technology**
- iPads: reference, documentation, photos, browser-based simulation.
- Laptops (provided) for programming/uploading — they stay in the room.
- Phones stay away.
]

---

# The engineering notebook

- A bound, graph-ruled composition notebook — brought **every session**.
- This is where you predict before you measure, sketch circuits, record what actually happened, and write down what went wrong.
- It's graded as a learning target (technical communication), not for neatness or being on schedule — the question is: *could someone else rebuild your work from this?*

Task: label your notebook, date today's entry, and copy down today's learning targets.

---

# Kit inventory & organization — activity

Working with your partner:

1. Open your kit and lay everything out where you can see it.
2. Match every component to the inventory sheet. Flag anything missing or that looks damaged.
3. Sort components into their labeled bins — resistors, LEDs, wire, ICs, tools, etc.
4. Write a one-paragraph "first impressions" entry in your notebook: what components do you recognize, and what looks unfamiliar?
5. Return the kit to its bin, organized, before the bell.

A kit that goes back disorganized costs the next class fifteen minutes.

---
class: center, middle

# Homework

.hw-box[
- Finish labeling your kit bin if you didn't in class.
- Read the syllabus in full; come with one question about a policy.
- Bring your bound engineering notebook next class — every class, from now on.
]