The Electron Lab curriculum

Electron Lab teaches electronics, circuits, microcontrollers and robotics to children aged about 10 to 15, in the browser.

Learners build real circuits on a simulated breadboard, program an Arduino, a BBC micro:bit, an ESP32 and a Raspberry Pi Pico with blocks, wire sensors and motors, then build a robot and program it to drive and to fight in a sumo arena. There are 17 levels and 106 missions, with hints, “Why?” help and quizzes, plus 13 free labs, and 5 everyday machines to open up in 3D (a DC motor, speaker, doorbell, electric toothbrush and solar garden light). Nothing to install, and no hardware needed; a parts list helps anyone who wants the real parts on a desk.

For children (about 10 to 15), parents, schools, and robotics and coding centres. Teachers make a school, add classes and learners, and see their progress. Learners in a class sign in with a class code and a picture password, with no email; at home, a parent can give each child a family code and a picture password for their own device.

The labs and Level 1 are free with no account, and Levels 2 and 3 and the micro:bit side quest with a free account, which also saves work across devices. The Family plan, or a school or centre’s plan, opens every level. Made by Version2 Apps.

Main path

Start here and follow it in order: circuits by hand, then a brain to program, then motors and a robot of your own.

Level 1: Electricity basics

Build real circuits: loops, LEDs, motors, conductors and insulators, series and parallel, battery packs, and keeping them safe.

  1. Your first circuit: Light it, see it in 3D, break it and fix it
  2. Motors and switches: Spin it, reverse it, stop it
  3. Conductors and insulators: What lets current through?
  4. Static electricity: Charges that stay put
  5. Series and parallel: In a row or side by side?
  6. Battery packs: Stacking cells for a bigger push
  7. Safe circuits: Short circuits, and the fuse that stops them
  8. Project: build a torch: Your own design, start to finish
  9. Circuits quiz: Earn the Circuit Builder badge

Level 2: Measure it

Read and build from circuit diagrams, then measure your circuits with a multimeter: voltage, current, and Ohm’s law, worked out from your own readings.

  1. Circuit diagrams: The symbols engineers draw with
  2. Meet the multimeter: Measuring the push with probes
  3. Measuring current: The ammeter goes in the loop
  4. Ohm’s law: Push, flow and resistance
  5. Project: the right resistor: A bike light, designed with Ohm’s law
  6. Measuring quiz: Earn the Measuring Master badge

Level 3: Circuits that sense

Two resistors share the push: voltage dividers, a light sensor, dimmers and paths side by side, diodes and capacitors. Circuits that react, with no code.

  1. Sharing the push: Voltage dividers
  2. Light sensor: Turning light into a number
  3. Dimmers and two roads: Side by side, and turnable
  4. Diodes: A one-way street for current
  5. Capacitors: A small tank for electricity
  6. Project: lights on in the dark: A night-light with no code
  7. Sharing quiz: Earn the Divider Designer badge

Level 4: Switches that think

Switches that make decisions: AND and OR, then the transistor, a switch worked by electricity, and a peek at the chip built from millions of them.

  1. Switch logic: Build AND and OR gates
  2. Meet the transistor: A trickle controls a flood
  3. Real circuits: Night-light, motor driver, NOT gate
  4. Project: the vault light: Two keys, one transistor
  5. Meet the robot brain: What lives inside a microcontroller
  6. Bits and bytes: Why 255 is the biggest 8-bit number
  7. Transistor quiz: Earn the Transistor Tamer badge

Level 5: Program an Arduino

Give your circuits a brain: meet the Arduino Uno, write your first program from blocks, then wire lights of your own and program them.

  1. Meet the Arduino Uno: Its pins, its power and its L light
  2. Your Level 1 circuit gets a brain: From your finger to a program
  3. Write Blink yourself: Your first Arduino program
  4. Blink and traffic lights: Pins as outputs
  5. Two lights taking turns: Your own program for your own circuit
  6. Type it as code: Real C++, the way engineers write it
  7. Messages in light: Morse code: a digital signal

Level 6: Inputs and decisions

Buttons and sensors: read a pin, let the program decide with if and else, fade a light, see it on the scope and build a night-light.

  1. Buttons and floating pins: Pins as inputs
  2. If and else: Let the program decide
  3. Fading and sensors: PWM and analog inputs
  4. See PWM with the scope: What “half brightness” really looks like
  5. Project: night-light with a button: Two questions, one decision
  6. Arduino quiz: Earn the Arduino Apprentice badge

Level 7: Arduino sensors

Servos, knobs, temperature, motion, distance and colour: real modules wired to an Arduino.

  1. Servo and knob: Turn to an angle, steer with a dial
  2. Hot and cold: A temperature alarm
  3. Data logger: Record a sensor, read the graph
  4. Motion and distance: Sensors that watch
  5. Colour mixing: An RGB LED
  6. A servo’s secret signal: An angle sent as a pulse
  7. Project: traffic-light parking sensor: A sensor, a decision, two lights
  8. Sensor quiz: Earn the Sensor Scout badge

Level 8: Motors and drivers

Why a pin can’t run a motor, the H-bridge motor driver, speed with PWM, and two motors steering like a robot.

  1. The motor driver: Direction and speed
  2. Two motors, one robot: Drive, reverse and spin
  3. Project: robot dance: Forwards, backwards, spin
  4. Motor quiz: Earn the Motor Mechanic badge

Level 9: Build a robot

Put your circuit in a robot body, then drive it: straight, round a corner, pushing a box, and finding things with sensors.

  1. The Garage: Give your circuit a body
  2. Test drive: Straight, then round a corner
  3. Push the box: Push, and feel the grip
  4. The edge of the ring: A line sensor
  5. Seek and push: Find a box with your sensors
  6. Robot quiz: Earn the Robot Builder badge

Level 10: Robot arena

Sumo matches against five practice robots, from easy to champion. Tune your body and your program to win.

  1. First matches: Rolly and Wall-hugger
  2. Charger: A robot that hunts you
  3. Bulldozer: Heavy, slow and strong
  4. Flipper Fred: The champion

Code a micro:bit

Programs with no wiring, on the board many schools use. Good after Level 1, or as a first taste of code.

Level 11: BBC micro:bit

Write your first programs on the micro:bit schools use: its lights, buttons, tilt, temperature and sounds.

  1. Meet the micro:bit: Lights on
  2. Draw with lights: Pictures and coordinates
  3. Buttons and events: When this happens, do that
  4. Sensors: Temperature, shake and light
  5. Tilt and tunes: Steer a dot, play music
  6. Project: step counter: Shake, count, celebrate
  7. micro:bit quiz: Earn the micro:bit Maker badge

Inside the chip

Memory, the clock, all 28 pins and interrupts: what really happens inside an Arduino. Good after Level 5.

Level 12: Inside a microcontroller

The ATmega328P, the chip on an Arduino Uno: memory that forgets, its heartbeat, its 28 legs and interrupts.

  1. Memory that forgets: Flash, EEPROM and RAM
  2. The heartbeat: Clock, crystal and 16 MHz
  3. Pin detective: All 28 legs of the ATmega328
  4. Interrupts and reset: Pause, handle it, carry on
  5. Boss quiz: Ten questions to earn your certificate

Mission robots

Program a two-wheel hub robot to run missions on a mat, the way school robot competition teams do. No wiring. Good after Level 5.

Level 13: Drive a mission robot

A robot with a hub for a brain: its lights and beeps, driving exact distances, turning, and turning by the gyro.

  1. Meet the hub: Lights, a beep and a first drive
  2. How far?: Centimetres and rotations
  3. Turning: Steering and quarter turns
  4. Turn with the gyro: When the wheels slip

Level 14: Robots that sense

Stop before a wall, read colours on the mat, follow a line, then run a whole mission against the clock.

  1. Stop before the wall: The distance sensor
  2. Colours on the mat: The colour sensor
  3. Follow the line: Steering by reflected light
  4. A mission run: Deliver the block and come home

Uniko EKAM kit

For learners who have the Uniko EKAM robot board. Good after Level 7.

Level 15: Meet your EKAM

Tour the Uniko EKAM in 3D, program its lights, buttons and light sensor, upload to the real board, and build a night-light for your room.

  1. Board tour: Every part of the Uniko EKAM, in 3D
  2. Light it up: Its LEDs, from blocks
  3. Buttons and the light sensor: Inputs that are built in
  4. USB programmer: the upload bridge: Wire it up and upload a program
  5. Project: a night-light for your room: Design it, test it, put it on the real board
  6. Board quiz: Earn the Board Builder badge

Level 16: EKAM add-ons

Plug a servo and a knob into the headers, program them, the microphone and the TV remote, charge the battery safely, and build a remote-controlled servo.

  1. Plug in the servo: Three wires into a header
  2. Program the servo: Angles, sweeps and a knob
  3. Microphone: Turning sound into numbers
  4. Clap switch: Sound in, light out
  5. TSOP and the IR remote: Crack the remote’s secret codes
  6. Project: a remote-controlled servo: Your TV remote steers it
  7. Battery and charger: Charging safely
  8. Parts quiz: Earn the Parts Expert badge

Energy and power

Watts, power from the sun, magnets made by electricity, a generator, AC and DC, and how much power becomes light. Good after Level 2.

Level 17: Energy and power

Power in watts, electricity from sunlight, electromagnets, a generator you crank, AC and DC, and why an LED wastes less than a bulb.

  1. Power: Watts: push × current
  2. Energy from the sun: A solar cell instead of a battery
  3. Electromagnets: Magnets you can switch on and off
  4. Crank a generator: Movement into electricity
  5. AC and DC: Two ways to push
  6. LED or bulb?: How much becomes light?
  7. Project: a light with no battery: Solar or crank, to a spec
  8. Energy quiz: Earn the Energy Expert badge

Labs

Free to use, with no account and no missions: pick one and build.

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