A stretch project: design a PCB for a working project in KiCad or EasyEDA (schematic, footprints, layout, design rule check, Gerber files), optionally ordered and assembled.
Capstone projects · Stretch: make it permanent · about 250 minutes · Open the student lesson
Classroom resources
Load these into Waypoints Prepare: choose Load URL and paste the copied address, or download the file and import it. In Prepare, the worksheet's Teacher edition shows the answers; the student copy hides them.
SlidesDownload Present from the browser, or export to PowerPoint or PDF.
WorksheetDownload Print the student copy; the Teacher edition has the answers.
Students will be able to
I can draw a schematic from a working circuit.
I can lay out and check a board.
I can prepare a design for manufacture.
Timing
About 4 to 6 lessons (around 250 minutes). Inquire and Develop 1 · Create 2–4 · Test and evaluate 1
Before class
Teacher-run: tool skills come from KiCad's or EasyEDA's own tutorials (link them); this page structures the project. Ordering boards needs a budget and a manufacturer's student-friendly service; plan a few weeks of lead time. Through-hole parts are easiest to solder for a first board.
If you assess with MYP Design, the steps line up with the criteria:
A Inquiring and analysing: the brief, its criteria and constraints, and research into parts (Inquire).
B Developing ideas: a design specification, the circuit and code plan, and the test table written before building (Develop).
C Creating the solution: building it (in the simulator, then for real), following the plan and justifying changes (Create).
D Evaluating: testing against the specification, recording failures, improvements and impact (Test, Evaluate).
Otherwise, use the same four headings as a simple rubric: each step's reflect checks are the evidence list.
Running the lesson
Develop: schematic checked against the breadboard before layout starts.
Create: run the DRC early and often.
The hard part (on purpose)
Footprints that don't match the real part (pin spacing, hole size) are the classic first-board failure. Check each one against the part in hand.
When students get stuck
What you will see
A question to ask
The fix
The DRC shows unconnected nets.
Which pins does the schematic join that the layout doesn't?
Route the missing tracks, or fix the schematic.
Answers to the checks
Inquire: the brief: Sort each line of the brief: a criterion (what it must do, which you can test) or a constraint (a limit you must work within)? The schematic matches the working circuit → Criterion; No design rule check errors → Criterion; Gerber files exported → Criterion; At most 5 × 5 cm, or Uno-shield size → Constraint; Free tools only: KiCad or EasyEDA → Constraint Criteria are what you will test at the end; constraints decide what you are allowed to build with.
The steps: Put the PCB design steps in order. see the program below Schematic first, then footprints, then layout and routing, then the checks, then the files.
Draw the schematic from the working circuit.
Give every part a footprint that matches the real part.
Place the parts on the board outline.
Route the tracks.
Run the design rule check and fix every error.
Export the Gerber files.
Design rule check: What does the design rule check (DRC) catch? Tracks or pads too close together, too thin, or not connected as the schematic says It checks the layout can be made and matches the schematic, not that the design is a good one.
Which is evidence?: Which is the strongest evidence that the design meets a criterion? A test from the table that set the input and recorded the expected result A planned test with a recorded result is evidence; everything else is a feeling.
Stretch and support
Stretch: A two-layer board with a ground plane.
Support: A finished example board for an LED and resistor to copy the steps from.
Exit ticket
Name two things a design rule check catches, and one it can't.
It catches tracks too close or too thin and unconnected nets; it can't tell whether the circuit meets the brief.
What each step is for
Inquire: the brief: Separating what the design must do (criteria) from the limits it works within (constraints) is the first move of any design brief.
Develop: plan before you build: Ordering the steps of PCB design, and knowing what the design rule check catches, plans the work before the tool is learned.
Create: build it: Building in the simulator first catches wiring and code slips cheaply; the real build then tests the design against the world.
Test: run your table: Running the test table written in Develop, and recording every result including failures, is the evidence for the evaluation.
Evaluate: against the brief: Judging the design criterion by criterion, with evidence from the tests, is what separates an evaluation from a description.
Where it leads
Back to the Engineering capstones, or CAD and fabrication for an enclosure.