Summer CS Hardware Intensive

Info Session

Ian Heraty
ihera2@uillinois.edu

Welcome 👋

  • 7-day summer intensive
  • Focus: Computer Hardware + Electronics
  • Designed for high school
  • Hands-on, project-based learning

Quick Question

What do you hope to get out of this intensive?

  • Learn electronics fundamentals?
  • Build confidence with hardware?
  • Bring projects into your classroom?
  • Something else?

Instructor

  • Hi, my name is Ian Heraty
  • I am a software developer and electronics hobbyist

Teaching Assistant

  • An Luu
  • UIC Electrical Engineering undergraduate assistant
  • Enjoys swimming, jogging, and playing board games

Structure of Each Day

Morning (8:30 – 12:00)
Co-learning with students

  • Lecture
  • Hands-on labs

Lunch (12:00 – 1:00)

Afternoon (1:00 – 2:00)
Educators

  • Reflection + pedagogy
  • Adapting for your classroom

Location

UIC
Women in Engineering Programs (WIEP) Lounge
SELE 2260
842 W Taylor St
Chicago, IL 60607

Pedagogical Approach

  • Learning by discovery
  • Build intuition through hands-on projects

Core Goal

Bootstrapping students (and teachers) with hardware knowledge from Ohm's Law → Microcontrollers → Full Projects

Why Hardware?

  • Growing importance in STEM
  • Bridges:
    • Computer Science
    • Electrical Engineering
    • Computer Engineering
    • Physics

Why Now?

  • The shift is happening: Software → Software + Hardware
  • AI writes code → but struggles with the physical world
  • Hardware is becoming a bottleneck

"Over the next 25 years, most of the money will be made in hardware"

  • Shaun Maguire, Partner, Sequoia
    Source

"The biggest beneficiaries of vibecoding are going to be the shape rotators, not the wordcels."
— Palmer Luckey, Founder, Oculus + Anduril
Source

What hardware gives you as an educator

  • Deeper intuition (how systems actually work)
  • Tangible results (light, sound, motion)
  • Engaging learning for students
  • Practical life skills

Will it be difficult?

  • Assume you're beginning with no prior knowledge
  • Theory kept to a minimum
  • Only math you'll need will be addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division

Learning Goals

  • Ohm's Law
  • Breadboards & circuits
  • Measuring voltage, current, resistance, and continuity
  • Microcontrollers (Micro:bit + Arduino)
  • Soldering
  • 3D Design

Weekly Schedule Overview

Day 1 (6/23)

  • Electricity basics
  • Ohm's Law
  • Multimeter
  • Breadboard + LED control

Day 2 (6/24)

  • Capacitors
  • Buttons & switches
  • RC circuits
  • LED delay + fade
  • Troubleshooting

Day 3 (6/25)

  • Transistors
  • Logic gates
  • Multivibrator circuit
  • Sound / speaker circuits

Day 4 (6/26)

  • Intro to microcontrollers (Micro:bit)

Day 5 (6/29)

  • Microcontrollers (Arduino)
  • Programming + hardware integration

Day 6 (6/30)

  • Soldering (Weevil)
  • Moving from breadboard → permanent builds

Day 7 (7/1)

  • Tinkercad + 3D printing
  • Wrap-up and next steps

Afternoon Sessions

Each day:

  • Reflect on student experience
  • Adapt lessons to your classroom

Expectations

  • Ask questions
  • Experiment freely
  • Embrace mistakes
  • Collaborate

Some Homework

Questions?

# Components You'll Learn - Resistors - Capacitors - Diodes - Potentiometers - Transistors --- # Systems & Concepts - Logic & Binary - 555 Timer - Decade Counters - Signals & pulses --- # Tools & Skills - Microcontrollers - Soldering - CAD / 3D Design - Bill of Materials (BOM) --- # Equipment You'll Use - Multimeter - Breadboard - Jumper wires - Resistors, capacitors - Switches, buttons - Micro:bit - Soldering iron --- # Example Projects - LED brightness control - Variable resistance circuit - LED delay + fade (RC circuit) - Transistor toggle switch - Multivibrator circuit - 555 timer circuits ---