STEM volunteers mentor local electronics students

  • Published
  • By Michael Glennon
  • AEDC Engineering and Technical Management
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TENN. --  The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) program at Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) is supporting a basic electronics course for students at the Coffee County Central High School in Manchester.

Two AEDC mentors, Michael Glennon and Richard Kirkpatrick are volunteering with the course which uses the Arduino Uno, a single-board microcontroller. The controller makes building electronic projects more interactive and more accessible for students.

The AEDC STEM program loaned 20 SparkFun Inventor's Kits to the high school that provide programming and hardware interaction with the Arduino programming language. The kit includes 15 electronic circuits that teach the students how to read sensors, display information on an Liquid Crystal Display, drive motors understanding and more.

The hardware consists of an open-source board designed around an 8-bit Atmel® processor. Arduino Uno microcontroller board features a USB interface, six analog input pins, as well as 14 digital I/O (input/output) pins that accommodate various extension boards.

The high school electronics instructor Jeff Hinshaw said, "Electronics is a new program this year with 50 students learning basic electronics from AEDC knowledgeable engineering mentors."

The students stated that they are learning a valuable understanding of basic electronics, software programming, as well as hands on projects that allow them to connect various electronic parts and provides a real world understanding of STEM.

"It has been a lot of fun and an honor to work with the CCCHS students," Kirkpatrick said. "I have been very surprised by how the students are able to quickly understand the concepts. This course will help them prepare for a job or advanced education in the technology sector."

The local Middle Tennessee Amateur Radio Society (MTARS) also provided do-it-yourself (DIY) clock kits for students to understand basic electronics components and to teach proper soldering techniques used to mount various electronic components to the circuit board kits.

Eric Sutherland, the president of MTARS, said, "Basic electronics supports the interest of the amateur radio hobby and the MTARS club is proud to have the opportunity to help support the local high school with DIY clock kits."

At the October AEDC Technical Forum Lunch and Learn, Glennon presented the electronic teaching topics, the 15 electronic circuits along with a few examples and use of the Arduino single-board microcontroller.

Glennon said it was "great to share 27-plus years of electronic engineering experience with high school students in hopes to spark future interest in electronics, future employment or continuing into an engineering study in college."