Learning campaign
The learning campaign teaches electronics one bench at a time. Each challenge gives you a real circuit to build or fix, tells you what to measure, and checks the result live while the simulation runs. It starts from closing your first loop and builds up to microcontrollers, mechatronics and open design briefs.
Finding it
Section titled “Finding it”The Home screen shows your campaign at a glance.
- START THE CAMPAIGN opens the Learning Centre on your first challenge. Once you’ve started, the button reads CONTINUE CAMPAIGN and opens it on the next one. UP NEXT shows which tier and challenge that is.
- The CAMPAIGN track shows every tier with how many of its challenges you’ve cleared. Click an open tier to go straight to it.
- PROGRESS shows how far through the whole campaign you are, how many tiers you’ve cleared and which tier you’re on.
- Challenges in the LEARNING group of the ribbon opens the Learning Centre.
The Learning Centre
Section titled “The Learning Centre”The Learning Centre lists the tiers down the left. Pick one to see its premise and its challenges, numbered in order. The next challenge to play is marked UP NEXT, finished ones have a tick, and a locked tier’s challenges have a padlock. You can read any tier, even a locked one.
Pick a challenge to see its brief: what you’ll build, WHAT IT TEACHES, the parts ON THE BENCH, and THE DRAWING (the circuit diagram, when it has one). Press START CHALLENGE to begin.
Home on the ribbon takes you back, and Up Next jumps to the challenge you should play next.
The tiers
Section titled “The tiers”| Tier | Title | Challenges |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | First principles | 10 |
| 2 | Build it and measure it: Ohm’s law and DC networks | 8 |
| 3 | Capacitance, time and the oscilloscope | 10 |
| 4 | Diodes, transistors and power | 10 |
| 5 | Op-amps and analog signal processing | 10 |
| 6 | Digital logic, timing and displays | 10 |
| 7 | Fault finding, diagnosis and repair | 9 |
| 8 | Microcontroller programming | 10 |
| 9 | Mechatronics, sensing and control | 10 |
| 10 | Open design briefs and the capstone | 10 |
A tier opens when you’ve completed every challenge in the tier before it. Inside an open tier you can play the challenges in any order. If a challenge’s bench isn’t ready yet, the Learning Centre tells you so instead of starting it.
Playing a challenge
Section titled “Playing a challenge”A challenge opens in its own tab, laid out for that challenge: the 3D view, the challenge panel on the right, and only the tools it needs. A briefing comes up first with three lists:
- THE GOAL: what you need to reach, such as a current in a given range, and how long it must hold.
- STEPS: what to do, in order.
- YOU CAN ADD: the parts you’re allowed to bring, such as one jumper wire.
Press BEGIN to start. You can bring the briefing back at any time with CHALLENGE DETAILS on the challenge panel.
A challenge is an attempt, not a saved design. Save is switched off, closing the tab asks nothing, and completing it is what gets recorded. A few other tools are switched off too, so the bench stays the one the challenge was set on. Their tooltips say “Not used in this challenge.”
The bench rules
Section titled “The bench rules”- The parts already on the bench are locked. You can select one and read its settings in the inspector, but not change them or take it away.
- The toolbox offers only the parts the challenge allows, with how many you have left.
- Some values can only be set to what’s “on the shelf”, the way a real kit only has certain resistors in it. Reset the simulation before you change one.
If you try something the challenge doesn’t allow, a short note at the pointer tells you why.
Until you’ve completed a challenge, hint bubbles walk you through it on every attempt. They can point at a part, a hole on the breadboard or a button on the ribbon. Press Got it to move on, or Skip tutorial to dismiss them. After you’ve completed the challenge once, they only come back if you press Replay tutorial.
How a challenge is checked
Section titled “How a challenge is checked”Press Run Simulation. The challenge panel lists each goal with a live reading, the range it needs, and a bar that fills while the reading stays in range. Most goals have to hold for a few seconds of simulated time, so a reading that only passes through the range doesn’t count. Other goals check your wiring and read yes or no.
The challenge is complete when every goal is met in the same run. If you rewire the circuit while it runs, every goal starts again. In some challenges, changing a part’s value while it runs restarts them too, and a note tells you so.
Merits and distinctions
Section titled “Merits and distinctions”Some challenges have extra goals marked MERIT or DISTINCTION. They never stop you completing the challenge. They only count in a run you didn’t change partway through, and once you’ve earned one it stays earned for that attempt.
When you finish
Section titled “When you finish”The panel celebrates, shows WHAT IT TEACHES, and offers COMPLETE. That closes the challenge and takes you back to the Learning Centre, on the next challenge. After a tier’s last challenge it moves on to the next tier.
Your progress is saved on your computer as soon as you complete a challenge. You can replay any challenge you’ve completed.