Students Solder Bots in Science

Students in the Upper School Fabrication and Microcontrollers engineering class tried their hands at soldering.

As students grow as makers, designers and problem solvers, teachers Elizabeth Druger and Brianna Ifft push them to use convergent thinking, divergent thinking and lateral thinking while developing core engineering skills. 

Class projects center around artifacts used in areas from the arts to robotics and involve experiential learning—a process that helps students develop knowledge, skills and values from direct experiences. Teachers emphasize the importance of mistakes as valuable learning experiences that can eventually help one find better solutions.

Since circuits are omnipresent in nearly every piece of electronic componentry, teachers want to ensure students have a strong foundation in soldering. To help them learn the basics and refine technique, Druger and Ifft provided a prefabricated kit—a Weevil Eye—for students to use during a lab session.

The Weevil Eye is a through-hole soldering kit involving a low number of parts to ensure even young kids can easily complete it. When properly constructed, its red LED “eyes” light up brighter or darker according to how much light is reaching the photosensor.

Teachers reviewed proper soldering techniques before distributing the Weevil Eye kits, and students dug right in, each equipped with a helping hand tool and soldering iron for the project. After first tinning their soldering irons, students carefully positioned the components, heated the joint, soldered the joint and inspected their work before trimming the leads.

Everyone completed the lab with a better understanding of and appreciation for the soldered joints that surround us every day.

Check out students working on their Weevil Eyes here.