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JM: Why did you to opt for Systems and Control at GCSE?
Ruth: I enjoy sewing and cookery at home but when it came to my GCSE Options I thought that I would try something different. I decided to study Systems & Control because I thought it would be interesting and totally new so that I would gain knowledge of a different subject. It would also link into my Physics studies and my Drama GCSE through the lighting option. |
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JM: Was Systems and Control interesting at KS3?
Ruth: We made different products in various projects, and this inspired me to want to be able to learn about them, and to see how they worked.
Mainly I enjoyed the practical work, getting all the different components together. Then making the products and seeing how they worked together. |
JM: How did you find the GCSE course?
Ruth: The most useful thing was to look at different products and see how they were built up from just the basic ideas and then we did little practical exercises. We did a Toy Gun project which helped because I used aspects of that in my main GCSE project. So, just by working through it as a class I gained confidence and found the different components I could use.
In the Toy Gun project we could use our own different ideas. We all used a buzzer and LEDs and we had to figure out how to wire it up without help. The teacher then checked it through to see if we had done it properly.
JM: What else was useful for you?
Ruth: What helped as well was that we did a project looking at different products, having to describe them, and then look at their appearance and see what made them attractive and appealing to different age groups. This helped us visualise what sort of product we wanted to do for our project.
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JM: Tell me about your GCSE main project. Mr Akers suggested the theme of Children’s Toys for all the class. What then?
Ruth: Well firstly I had a look at different types of toys that are actually on the market today, to see what sort of things are being sold, what they look like and what they actually do. After that, I did some research on different companies that make toys. It was really good because I could see which aspects worked and what was good so I could use those ideas in my project. It really helped me.
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JM: What next?
Ruth: I then decided to talk to my cousin who has a little baby boy to see what toys he has. I found it really interesting because he has a sister as well. He liked a wide variety of toys and had lots of cars. He also had a little ark and other animal toys. It really helped me to see a real life situation, and also it helped me to figure out what sort of toy I was going to make - whether it was going to be something to help him learn, or do different types of activities. It helped me to see what he liked best. |
JM: Where did you get your best ideas from?
Ruth: It was a toy that my cousin’s child was playing with. It was a car and it had a couple of buttons on. I think it was a fire engine - you pressed different buttons and different fire engine noises were produced. There was also a telephone that I looked at – when you pressed a different number a different person’s voice came out, and talked. I found that really good and helpful.
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Then after that I decided I would sketch a few ideas that could be interesting.
The next thing I did was to interview my cousin again to see if there was anything else I had missed that her little boy liked to play with. |
JM: And was there anything?
Yes. It was different animals. He was really interested in animals but he also had many different types of car and moving toys. This is what persuaded me to do a car.
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JM: And then what?
Ruth: I then went and did a survey at the nursery where my mum works to find out about how different children develop, whether they learn from toys, what the toys do, how the children want to learn, what different colours they like, and what they find attractive in a toy. |
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JM: What were the next things you focussed on?
Ruth: I went onto the Internet and had a look at different car shapes. I had numerous different ideas, and I drew some sketches. I had a look at them all and decided which looked the best, how a child would be able to grip it better and things like that. After that I pulled bits from each of my designs into one main idea, which was really good.
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JM: What about the electronics part of the project?
Ruth: It really helped me to have done different projects before. I decided to make up some different little projects using Circuit Wizard and I joined them together to see what sort of results I would get. I decided I wanted to make a row of LEDs flash in a sequence and to make a couple of tunes as well. I started off with just basic sounds and then built up and used ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ and the ‘Grand Old Duke of York’ from a music book that I had. My Music GCSE work helped here. |
JM: Do you read music?
Ruth: Yes. I play the keyboard and acoustic guitar.
After that I went onto the Internet again and found a really helpful web site - Rapid Electronics. It showed me how to wire up different chips. I decided that I would need the biggest chip because of the many things I wanted to be going on in my toy at the same time. I used this to help me start wiring up my circuit board.
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JM: Were you able to check the programme?
Ruth: Yes. I ran it and put headphones on so that I could hear my tunes and make sure they sounded OK. I also used the simulation that told me that the LEDs were flashing on and off at the right times.
JM: Did you find it difficult?
Ruth: I thought it was quite easy to use because it was in blocks, so I could understand and follow the processes.
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JM: How did you get on with circuit design?
Ruth: That was quite interesting to do because I didn’t know at first where I could place the components. Sometimes wires crossed over and I was a little unsure if they would work. So, I had to keep moving the components around to make sure they were closer to where they needed to be. I had to do it a few times to get it right. |
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What was frustrating was when I was actually making the toy car. I made a few mistakes soldering the connections, because the solder splurged over some of the tracks. So I had to suck it off and if that didn’t work then I had to pick the solder off to make sure it didn’t touch other parts. For testing I found it easier to use a logic probe rather than a multimeter.
I had to make my board again at one stage because I had heated it up too much and the copper had come off the bottom. There was a fault with one of my component legs as well.
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JM: How did you get on with the product design?
Ruth: Last year, in Y10, when we did the Toy Gun project we used vacuum forming. But we only made one half of the toy. We didn’t make the other half, because it would be really difficult to fasten together. So I thought I don’t want my toy car to be the same, because I wanted some switches on the front, and some in other different places. I decided that the best way probably would be to do it layer by layer on the laser cutter. |
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I had a look at glue moulding but that was not applicable because of the shape of the toy. After that I decided that laser cutting would be the best way. I tested a few different options, because it’s made from layers of MDF and acrylic and I needed to figure a way I could stick the layers together. I tested a couple of different glues but they didn’t work, so in the end I used double sided sticky tape and that was the best option.
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JM: Looking back over the whole thing, what lessons have you learned at a personal level?
Ruth: You have to continually test the work you have done to make sure that the model operates properly and in the way intended. You have to be persistent in order to get things right and keep referring back to previous work done. You don't want to find out at the last minute that some things do not work properly and put the whole project into jeopardy.
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JM: Do you think the GCSE has been a useful experience?
Ruth: I think it has been really useful because I have now got a general knowledge of electronics. It has taught me that it is best to continually check what you have done. This can be applied to all subjects at school. It has helped me a lot because now I have got a good basic level in problem solving skills.
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Ruth’s GCSE Project Report can be downloaded as a 2.6Mb PDF file.
NB: English copyright law allows pupils to make use of images from the Web for personal educational use; some of the images in Ruth’s report may be copyright and unlicensed for general use. |
