Course Syllabus

Faculty: Igor Bilykh

Course Description

The ability to design, make, acquire, and apply skills and technologies is important in the world today and key in the education of citizens for the future.

The Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies (ADST) curriculum fosters the development of the skills and knowledge that will support students in developing practical, creative, and innovative responses to everyday needs and challenges.

In Electronics and Robotics 11, students grow through the use of design thinking principles to construct a robot that meets an identified need. This approach helps them gain understanding of how to apply their skills to both finding challenges and solving them in creative ways, using appropriate technologies for the task at hand.

Design involves the ability to combine an empathetic understanding of the context of a challenge, creativity in the generation of insights and solutions, and critical thinking for analyzing and fitting solutions to context. To move from design to final product or service requires skills and technology. Students will use their design to develop their understanding of sensors, control systems, circuits and programming. 

Contacting Me

Assessment and Evaluation

A student's final mark will be determined by evaluation of their ability to demonstrate proficiency in these skills and learning these concepts.

Major assessments for this course include:

  • Demonstrations
  • Presentations 
  • Interviews

Using the design process as our framework, students will challenge themselves to learn and demonstrate their understanding of some of the following topics:

  • uses of electronics and robotics
  • components of an electric circuit
  • ways in which various electrical components affect the path of electricity
  • more advanced Robotics and Electronic devices
  • platforms for PCB (printed circuit board) production
  • basic robot behaviours using input/output devices, movement- and sensor-based responses, and microcontrollers
  • mechanical devices for the transfer of mechanical energy
  • mechanical advantage and power efficiency, including friction, force, and torque
  • robotics coding (higher level than in pervious grades using good programming principles)
  • various platforms for robotics programming with a particular focus on Arduino microcontrollers.

Resources 

  • All current unit and major assessments for the current term, and a plethora of helpful learning resources can be found on our Canvas page.

Course Expectations

  • Students are expected to arrive on time, with a functioning laptop capable of running the required software for class, and power cable in case the laptop battery is out of charge. 
  • Students should be proactive and eager to create, make mistakes and try their best

Core Competencies

Students are expected to be able to do the following:

Applied Design

Understanding context
Defining
  • Establish a point of view for a chosen design opportunity
  • Identify potential users, intended impacts, and possible unintended negative consequences
  • Make inferences about premises and constraints that define the design space, and identify criteria for success
  • Determine whether activity is collaborative or self-directed
Ideating
  • Generate ideas and add to others' ideas to create possibilities, and prioritize them for prototyping
  • Critically analyze how competing social, ethical, and sustainability considerations impact creation and development of solutions
  • Choose an idea to pursue based on success criteria and maintain an open mind about potentially viable ideas
Prototyping
  • Choose a form for prototyping and develop a plan that includes key stages and resources
  • Analyze the design for the life cycle and evaluate its impacts
  • Visualize and construct prototypes, making changes to tools, materials, and procedures as needed
  • Record iterations of prototyping
Testing
  • Identify and communicate with sources of feedback
  • Develop an appropriate test of the prototype, conduct the test, and collect and compile data
  • Apply information from critiques, testing results, and success criteria to make changes
Making
  • Identify appropriate tools, technologies, materials, processes, cost implications, and time needed
  • Create design, incorporating feedback from self, others, and results from testing of the prototype
  • Use materials in ways that minimize waste
Sharing
  • Determine how and with whom to share design and processes for feedback
  • Share the product with users to evaluate its success
  • Critically reflect on plans, products and processes, and identify new design goals
  • Analyze new possibilities for plans, products and processes, including how they or others might build on them

Applied Skills

Apply safety procedures for themselves, co-workers, and users in both physical and digital environments
Individually or collaboratively identify and assess skills needed for design interests
Demonstrate competency and proficiency in skills at various levels involving manual dexterity and circuitry techniques
Develop specific plans to learn or refine identified skills over time

Applied Technologies

Explore existing, new, and emerging tools, technologies, and systems to evaluate suitability for design interests
Evaluate impacts, including unintended negative consequences, of choices made about technology use
Examine the role that advancing technologies play in electronics-related contexts

Students will have the opportunity to communicate with peers in group work/projects/design opportunities, presenting ideas to groups of peers and receiving and responding to feedback.

Students will think critically and creatively to solve design problems.

Through individual and group work, students will demonstrate self-respect and perseverance, they will set goals and monitor their progress, and they will empathize with their classmates and group members. 

St. George's School Student Code of Conduct

St. George’s School shares a proud tradition as a learning community committed to both academic excellence and character development. We strive for growth within our personal lives while maintaining respect for and contributions to the broader community.

The purpose of the Student Code of Conduct is to ensure that:

A safe, caring, and productive teaching and learning environment exists.
We maintain appropriate balances among individual and collective interests and responsibilities.
There is clarity around standards and expected student behaviour at school, in the community, and online through social media.
We encourage and practice environmental stewardship.


The core values which provide the foundation for the Student Code of Conduct are:

Empathy
Humility
Integrity
Respect
Responsibility
Resilience


Conduct Expectations

  • I commit myself to strive for honourable behaviour in my daily life, according to the standards as set forth by the School.
  • I will try to be faithful to my parents, my School, my friends, and myself.
  • I will avoid bringing any ill-repute to the School at any time, including evenings, weekends, or over any school break or holiday.
  • I will comply with all school policies as they relate to upholding the standard of excellence of St. George’s School at all times.
  • I understand, accept, and will respect all of my school-related commitments and responsibilities.
  • I will arrive to school on time and attend all classes, assemblies, practices, rehearsals, and field trips as outlined by my teachers.
  • I will obtain necessary permission to leave class or school.
  • I will take pride in my personal appearance.
  • I will be dressed appropriately at all times for all events as outlined by the School.
  • I will abide by the grooming rules as outlined in the Standards of Dress and Appearance section and always observe the accepted standards of personal hygiene.
  • I will behave in a way that always brings credit to the School, with integrity, empathy, respect, and humility.
  • I recognize that the taking of tests and exams requires an exemplary standard of honesty and will not misrepresent myself by cheating, copying, or plagiarizing.
  • I recognize that integrity is a clear expectation and that borrowing of possessions of others without their consent is stealing.
  • I will care for all property, whether it is public or a peer’s personal possessions.
  • I will avoid disruptive behaviour at all times, and will strive to treat all others with great respect.
  • I will adhere to the School’s policies regarding the appropriate use of technology, including online communication, electronic devices, and the internet.
  • I will avoid any possession, use, or distribution of alcohol, cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cannabis and illicit drugs or related paraphernalia, weapons, replica weapons, or any other dangerous or illegal items or substances.
  • I will demonstrate responsible use and protection of the natural environment through conservation and sustainable practices.

Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity means honesty and responsibility in scholarship. It is the commitment and obligation of all students, faculty, parents/guardians, and administration to ensure that all academic work stems from the student’s own efforts. Academic Dishonesty erodes the ethical climate of honesty, respect, responsibility, fairness, and trust in our school community. At St. George's School, Academic Dishonesty to any degree is not acceptable. In addition to any other consequence, students found to have engaged in Academic Dishonesty shall not receive a mark for work that is the result of Academic Dishonesty.