WinterLab: Developing a low-cost, portable experiment platform to encourage engagement in the electronics lab

TL;DR

WinterLab introduces a portable, affordable electronics experiment platform designed to enhance student engagement by enabling independent learning beyond traditional laboratory constraints.

Contribution

The paper presents the design and development of a low-cost, portable electronics experimentation platform created collaboratively by students to foster inquiry-based learning.

Findings

Increased student engagement in electronics labs.

Enhanced flexibility for independent experimentation.

Successful deployment of the portable platform in educational settings.

Abstract

Encouraging student engagement is a key aim in any educational setting, and allowing students the freedom to pursue their own methods of solving problems through independent experimentation has been shown to markedly improve this. In many contexts, however, allowing students this flexibility in their learning is hampered by constraints of the material itself, such as in the electronics laboratory, where expensive and bulky equipment confines the learning environment to the laboratory room. Finding ourselves in the position of teaching one such laboratory course at the undergraduate level, we sought to encourage students to learn through independent investigation and the pursuit of personal projects, by providing a more flexible and inquiry-based learning environment and allowing them to take their measurement equipment -- and their learning -- beyond the laboratory itself. We present this project as a case of design both for and by students, with the lead designer undertaking the project after attending the course in question, and pursuing its development as a foundational step in their graduate career. We discuss the challenges and opportunities we encountered over the course of the design and development process, and the eventual key output of the project: a portable, low-cost, integrated electronics experimentation platform called the Winterlab board.