Educational electronics systems and methods

A system for teaching electronics, comprising:

• a printed circuit board configured to accept surface mount device (SMD) electronics components, the printed circuit board comprising solder pad footprints adapted to accept more than one size of (SMD) electronic component compatibly, said more than one size of SMD electronic component comprising a size of a larger SMD part and a size of a smaller SMD part, said adapted solder pad footprints having an exposed area not covered by a solder mask suitable for said larger SMD part, said exposed area being augmented at the point where two pads for an SMD electronic component have their closest approach until an interpad spacing is nominally equal to an interpad spacing used for said smaller SMD part, thereby allowing either said larger or said smaller SMD part to be soldered into place by a builder.

An Active Ruler™ system for teaching electronics, comprising a printed circuit board having an upper surface, said printed circuit board affording attachment of surface mount device (SMD) electronic components to said upper surface to allow the printed circuit board to lie flat on a second surface, said printed circuit board further adapted to provide information content comprising at least one of a schematic diagram, reference data, pictorial information, and ruler scale markings, said upper surface comprising a region where a builder can attach SMD electronic components, wherein said SMD electronic components function as an electronic circuit.

A method of storing and using Computer-Aided Design (CAD) data for printed circuit boards, said CAD data comprising solder pad footprints, adapted to accept more than one size of surface mount device (SMD) electronic component compatibly, said more than one size of SMD electronic component comprising a size of a larger SMD part and a size of a smaller SMD part, said solder pad footprints being stored in a CAD footprint library on a computer, said solder pad footprints being augmented footprints comprising an exposed area not covered by solder mask suitable for said larger SMD part, said exposed area being augmented at the point where two pads for an SMD electronic component have their closest approach until an interpad spacing is nominally equal to interpad spacing used for said smaller SMD part, thereby allowing either said larger or said smaller size SMD part to be soldered into place by a builder.

A direct-measuring transformed measurement device, said transformed measurement device being a flexible measurement device marked with information providing one or a plurality of mathematically scaled or transformed markings, wherein said mathematically scaled or transformed markings represent at least one mathematical transform applied to a standard measurement scale, thereby permitting direct measurement of one of a scaled quantity or a nonlinear quantity without computation.