A stretch project: move a working breadboard project onto protoboard or stripboard, with a planned layout, a soldering safety briefing, and the original test table re-run.
Capstone projects · Stretch: make it permanent · about 120 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.
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WorksheetDownload Print the student copy; the Teacher edition has the answers.
Students will be able to
I can plan a protoboard layout from a circuit diagram.
I can solder safely and check my joints.
I can show the permanent version works the same as the breadboard one.
Timing
About 2 to 3 lessons (around 120 minutes). Inquire and Develop 1 · Create 1 · Test and evaluate part lesson
Before class
Teacher-led and equipment-dependent: soldering stations with stands and fume extraction, safety glasses, lead-free solder, and your school's soldering risk assessment. Give the safety briefing in person before anyone uses an iron; this page does not replace it.
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: partner checks the layout against the diagram.
Create: inspect the first three joints together.
The hard part (on purpose)
Students want to start soldering. The layout drawing is the ticket to the iron.
When students get stuck
What you will see
A question to ask
The fix
Two neighbouring joints are joined by solder.
Is there a bridge?
Remove it with solder wick, then re-check.
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)? Passes the same tests as the breadboard version → Criterion; No loose wires → Criterion; Fits on a 5 × 7 cm board → Constraint; Soldering only after the safety briefing, in the soldering area → Constraint Criteria are what you will test at the end; constraints decide what you are allowed to build with.
Track cuts: On stripboard the copper strips join every hole in a row. An LED's two legs must go in the same row, but must not be joined. What do you do? Cut the strip between the legs A track cut breaks the strip so the legs are in separate pieces, as on a breadboard.
Soldering safety: Soldering: safe or unsafe? Iron back in its stand whenever you put it down → Safe; Fume extractor on, face out of the smoke → Safe; Testing whether the iron is hot with a finger → Unsafe; Cutting component legs with the board pointing at a classmate → Unsafe; Washing hands after soldering → Safe The iron is around 350 °C; the fumes and offcuts are hazards too.
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: Make it a shield: headers that plug straight onto the Uno.
Support: A printed hole grid and a worked layout for an LED and resistor.
Exit ticket
Why plan a protoboard layout before soldering?
Parts can't be moved easily once soldered, so the layout must match the circuit first.
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: Planning the layout on paper (or in Tinkercad) before the iron is hot is what makes protoboard work: holes can't be moved later.
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.