Electronic Products

Welcome to the Electronic Products at Firth Park webpage.

Key stage 3 Key stage 4 Coursework Guide	Year 10 Homework! deadline 01/03/10
	1/2 of class to complete PCB design on Circuit Wizard. 1/2 of class to complete 4 high quality, detailed design ideas, fully evaluated and annotated. then produce two developed ideas. F15 Available at all times!

Introduction

Electronics is a vital technology in the modern world, over the past century mankind has relied upon it more and more. Virtually every aspect of life is effected by electronics. Whether it is a life support machine and other medical machines like MRI scanners. Or the latest games console , television set, electronics furthers our understanding of our world and even helps us to explore other planets and galaxies. The impact of electronics on society is undeniably massive.

The Electronics Engineer of tomorrow will not only be involved with enhancing the quality of life for the global community, but will also be at the forefront of developing more environmentally conscious products and technologies as well as exploring more sustainable approaches to manufacturing.

Electronics provides a diverse and highly rewarding career with an infinite number of job opportunities. For more information on careers, professional and training visit the Institute for engineering and technology.

Key Stage 3

Year 7: GLOW BUGS
Students study the natural world to gain an understanding of how nature can influence designers of Electronic Products. They are introduced to CAD/CAM, Environmental Issues, Product Analysis, Electronic manufacturing, Independant learning ,Quality control and Health and Safety. They produce a flashing personalised GLOWBUG (photo's to follow.)

The Cost of this project is £2.00. students are welcome to pay for this in installments.

We do ask for a contribution/donantion of around £1.00 if the child does not wish to take the product home.

Year 8 : INSPIRATIONAL SPEAKERS
Students look towards their aspirations and ambitions to inspire thier designs. They develop and refine CAD/CAM skills, research famous people that inspire them, develop STEM (Science , Technology, Engineering, Maths) knowledge links with their casing designs. In year 8 the manufacturing processes and Industrial techniques used ,aims to refine their Independant learning skills and develop their Cooperative learning skills. They produce a MP3 speaker/amplifier complete with casing. (photo's to follow.)

The Cost of this project is £2.50. students are welcome to pay for this in installments.

We do ask for a contribution/donantion of around £1.00 if the child does not wish to take the product home.

Year 9 : ROBOLABS
Students develop an understanding of the technological society that we live in. They discover how robotics and electronics engineering is key to our every day lives with several case studies of STEM careers. The course builds a foundation of electronics expertise that equips them for the most challenging of D&T GCSE subjects at KS4. They learn about product functions and systems, system diagrams, basic circuitry, circuit CAD/CAM (circuit wizard). programming, circuit building blocks. They do not produce individual products, however they utilise their knowledge to take control of and programme a number of Robots within the the Electronics studio to perform a wide range of tasks. Currently the year 9s are working with a Space Rocket which launches independantly, depatches astronauts in the correct location and returns to 'earth'. The project is closely linked to STEM through Physics and Maths skills/knowledge taught throughout with the aid of all the robots- e.g. Speed = Distance/ Time. (photo's to follow.)
The Artifical intelligence robots are developing all the time- next up is a moon explorer robot which collects the astronauts and exlpores the entire room! WATCH THIS SPACE!

For an example lesson for Y9 click the Icon below

There is no cost to this project- however, students are welcome to purchase pre-made robot kits and borrow the equipment to construct them - see Mr Lewis

Key Stage 4

GCSE Electronic Products Outline

GCSE Electronic Products at Firth Park is the same as all other Design and Technology courses. Electronic products is 60% coursework and 40% Exam. The coursework is a 40 hour project which starts in the summer term of Year 10 and finishes immediately after the Christmas break in year 11. The Examination Board currently used for the course at Firth Park is the AQA.

2009/10 Coursework Deadlines

The following coursework deadlines have been set for the students entering year 11 this September. Due to the importance of regulating the time spent on the project these deadlines are Cut off Points—any late work WILL NOT BE MARKED!

Parents, if you have any concerns you can contact me on the DT Helpline email at the bottom of the page.

Wednesday 16th September 2009 - All initial research up to and including Initial ideas.
Tuesday 5th January 2010 - All designs and solutions up to and including casing solutions. (essentially, ready for manufacture!!!)
Friday 12th Febuary 2010 - All practical work completed (Product completed). Folder completed up to and including QA/QC/H&S
Friday 26th Febuary 2010- Final submission –all work completed!!!

e-Portfolio Help

Your coursework for Electronic Products is done as an e-portfolio in PowerPoint.

(For those that don't have PowerPoint you can download an official 3 month demo version from Microsoft Downloads centre

A dowloadable version of the Circuit Wizard programming section (flowchart) is available from Genie Online

The e-Portfolio is a way for you to be creative with your folder. An interactiv, detailed and creative e-Portfolio is a great way of gaining maximum points.
It allows you to incorporate as many creative medias as possible.

• Sketches: (these can be scanned in! - draw over each in pen then run out faint pencil marks then colour) - try to use a recognised drawing style for example isometric, Orthographic, or 1,2 or 3 point perspective.
• Videos: use your digital camera or video phone to video yourself doing something e.g. disassembly, interviewing a client, bread boarding your circuit design!!! (use avi. or wmv. formats to easy insert them into your e-Portfolio).
• Photos: that are interactively (using targets) annotated are a really good way of describing your research. You could piece together cropped parts of a photos to make the photo itself interactive. (don't forget to zoom in on important parts –you don't always need the whole picture!)
• Sound clips: Interviewed your client recently? To save you from having to write out the whole interview you could add a sound clip to the e-Portfolio. (you will still need to write up some of it , with analysis and evaluation of it!) .
• Pop up triggers: remember to use the custom animations toolbar to get more info/images etc to pop up when you click on a trigger and close on clicking itself. (your trigger must always be visible even when all pop up boxes are open!).

These are just a few ideas, you could add anything to your e-portfolio as long as it is relevant and displayed in your format style!

Here is an example of an ePortfolio showing the data,design and evaluation that you need to include (this standard is A grade.) There is also a guide to all of the circuit Building blocks that you may choose to use. you will need this to do you circuit analysis and circuit development.
Once downloaded you must extract the ZIP files to make the videos work in the slideshow.
Keep checking back here for updates

Electronics Helpline Email - (Available throughout the Christmas Holidays !)

Parents and Students with queries and questions can contact the department staff on the following address just put the teachers name in the subject bar before sending. fpcacdt@hotmail.co.uk

FPDT - Firth Park Design And Technology - this group is now open.

Electronics Coursework Progress checking

The e-Portfolios will be checked on a regular basis the students will be given a grade for each page of the e-portfolio as well as colour, Red, Amber and Green. This will be displayed on a chart on this webpage for all to see.

So parents and students you will be able to see what needs to be started, finished or improved!

This will be updated again following the next deadline of 5th January 2010.

A GREEN means that the work is satisfactory! It can always be IMPROVED!