Our Digital Devs academy ended last Friday and we are extremely proud to say that the students did an incredible job. We greatly appreciate how excited and motivated the students were to participate in the discussions and activities. We had a wonderful time working with the students.
In our first session of Digital Devs, History of Computers, students were introduced to the computer parts and the history of computers. To begin the lesson, students participated in a pre-academy Kahoot that introduced them to information from all six of the lessons. The students did a great job, with the winner getting 10/13 questions right! Then, we brainstormed about computers and created a thought-bubble that included a variety of important terms from computer components to programming languages.
Afterwards, we discussed Moore’s law and some general information about the history of computing. To conclude, students participated in a jeopardy to strengthen their knowledge of the history of computing.
In our second session, Digital Logic, we began our deep dive into the binary system and the language of computers! To begin with, students participated in an “icebreaker” activity to learn about some components inside the frame of a computer. Students were given an empty frame and were given the task to fill the computer with important parts that are necessary for computers to operate. The students created creative and unique designs!
We learned about 1s and 0s, and how these numbers formed the basis of computing. Students were introduced to binary numbers and learned how to convert from binary to decimal and decimal to binary. To conclude the session, we had a challenge where teams raced to complete the binary conversions. The students picked up the concept very quickly!
In our third session, Digital Components and Breadboarding, we began with an introduction to electrical engineering, the primary focus of the day. Students were enticed by the high starting salary of the field as well as its diversity, ranging from optics to solar power. They learned about the essential components of electrical engineering, including resistors, transistors, capacitors, and integrated circuits. The students calculated resistor values, learned about Ohm’s Law, and received their first hands-on experience with breadboarding. The students meticulously copied the diagram and several groups were successful with the project!
In our fourth session, Electrical Circuits, we discussed resistors, ohms, and reading resistors. Students identified the different bands of a resistor and learnt how to use those bands to calculate the amount of ohms. Then instructors divided the students into groups and gave them breadboards. The students modeled a circuit displayed on the screen and built their own circuits!
Day 5 was all about Computer Analysis. Students started off the lesson with a quick game of hangman! The students were tasked with the objective of naming a certain component within a circuit or a computer before an instructor drew out a man. Second, the students received an in-depth presentation of computer parts, from notable manufacturers of each part (Corsair-PSU, ASUS-Motherboard, etc.), to the differences within each part (non-modular, semi-modular PSU, etc.) Finally, we moved to dissecting a real computer! Students received a hands-on, real life look into how a computer is structured. They were able to see how all the parts were interconnected, from the heatsinks to the PCIE x16 ports! Students identified the solid state drive, battery, hard drive, cpu, fan, and disk drive!
Day 6 was all about The Academy Long Challenge. On this day, the students were tasked to reflect on everything that they learned and were tested in a fast-paced game! Students participated in a competitive event, in which students were split into groups of 4-5. Each group competed against each other to solve 5 problems at a time, of various difficulties. These questions contained information from each of our previous five lessons. The points system discouraged trigger-happy guessing and rewarded quick and precise answers. In addition, tension was alleviated with fun activities nestled between the set, which included bottle-flipping, “chopsticks”, and more! In the end, the group “Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies” emerged victorious! The final standings were decided by the barest of margins, with a single point differentiating the winners from the runner-ups. Nonetheless, all of the students did a spectacular job!
The academy went superbly and the WEngineer team is truly grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such dedicated and thoughtful students. We thank all the students for respecting the instructors and participating in the discussions and activities. Looking forward, we hope to conduct our next academy in early 2022.
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