Lesson 1 · Weeks 1-2
Systems, inputs and outputs
Learning intention
Describe any device as input, processing and output, and tell an open-loop system from a closed-loop one.
Success criteria
I can draw a block diagram for a device I did not build, and say whether it uses feedback and how I know.
Before class
Have one dismantled device on the bench — an old remote, a mouse, a kettle thermostat. Physical beats slides here.
Materials
A dismantled device. Whiteboard. Student record of evidence, started today.
Common misconceptions & fixes
Students often call anything automatic 'closed loop'. A timer is not feedback: it never measures whether the thing it wanted actually happened.
Evidence to collect
Block diagrams for two devices; the open/closed sort with reasoning on the contested ones.
Support path
Give a partly completed block diagram with the boxes labelled and the arrows missing.
Extension path
Find a device that is open-loop but that most people assume is closed-loop, and explain the consequence.
Exit reflection
Name one device you will never look at the same way again, and say why.
