By Mike Kwiatkowski
Goals
 Define CTAG
 Review Learning Outcomes for DC Circuits
 Discuss teaching methods for various topics
 Learn something new!
What does CTAG mean?
 Career Technical Credit Transfer (CT2) or Career
Technical Assurance Guide (CTAG)
 Learning outcomes match introductory technical
course
 Developed from Transfer Assurance Guide (TAG) for
state colleges
Prerequisites
 CTAG courses may have some prerequisites as defined
by the TAG requirements
 DC Circuits requires College Algebra
Learning Outcomes
Electrical components and quantities
2. Definitions: Voltage, Current, Resistance and Power
3. Ohm’s Law, Electrical Energy and Power and
Kirchoff’s Laws
4. Series Analysis
5. Parallel Analysis
6. Series-Parallel Analysis
7. Circuit Theorems: Thevenin’s and Norton’s
8. Mesh and Nodal Analysis
9. Properties of Capacitors in a DC circuit
10. Properties of Inductors in a DC circuit
1.
Electrical Components and and
Quantities
 Schematic symbols for circuit components
 SI standard units and prefixes
 Electrical components
 Significant digits
 Engineering notation
 Unit conversion
Suggestions!
 Scheme-it
 http://www.digikey.com/schemeit
 Name that part
 Metric prefix worksheet
Definitions
 Define Voltage, Current, Resistance and Power
 Interpret standard resistor code
 Use lab equipment to measure voltage and resistance
 Calculate power
Suggestions!
 BlBrROYGBVGyWh pneumonic
 Resistor code app
 Worksheets!!!
Ohm’s Law, electrical energy and
power
 Define Ohm’s Law, electrical energy and power
 Use Ohm’s Law to find voltage, current and resistance
in simple circuits
 Describe relationship between voltage, current and
resistance
 Design, build and test to achieve a specific voltage,
current or resistance
 Select resistors based on power considerations
Suggestions!
 Circuit labs
 Build simple resistive circuits and derive Ohm’s Law
from measurements
 Equation manipulation
Series Circuit Analysis and
Kirchoff’s Law of Voltage
 Define a series circuit
 State Kirchoff’s Law of Voltage
 Apply Kirchoff’s Law to a series circuit
 Calculate effective resistance of resistors in series
 Create and use a voltage divider
Suggestions!
 Series Circuit labs
 Create series circuits and demonstrate Kirchoff’s Law
 Demonstrate all elements have same current flowing
through them
 Introduce sensors as part of a voltage divider
 Possibly use an Arduino to capture voltage value
Parallel Circuit Analysis and
Kirchoff’s Law of Current
 Define a parallel circuit
 Define Kirchoff’s Current Law
 Determine effective resistance for two or more
resistors in parallel
 Apply Kirchoff’s Current Law to a simple circuit
 Apply current divider rule
Suggestions!
 Labs!
 Possibly introduce transistors as a current source
 Measure current in labs using an ammeter
Series-Parallel Circuit Analysis
 Define a series-parallel circuit
 Recognize a balanced Wheatstone bridge
 Find effective resistance for a series-parallel circuit
 Analyze 2 and 3 loop circuits
Suggestions!
 LABS!
 For all the rest of the topics the final suggestion is to do
labs test the concepts
Circuit Theorems
 Define Superposition, Thevenin and Norton’s
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theorems
Define maximum power transfer
Convert sources
Calculate the voltages and currents in a multi-source
series-parallel circuit
Calculate the equivalent Thevenin and Norton ciruits
Convert a Norton circuit to a Thevenin circuit
Convert a Thevenin circuit to a Norton circuit
Calculate voltages and currents using superposition
Mesh and Nodal Analysis
 Describe Mesh or Nodal Analysis
 Develop equations for two loops
 Recognize when sources need to be converted
 Find currents and voltage through all resistors in a two
loop circuit
 Analyze a complex circuit consisting of three or more
loops finding voltages and currents through all
resistors
Capacitors in a DC Circuit
 Define capacitance, charge, universal time constant

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and dielectric characteristics
Describe the basic construction of a capacitor and
various types of capacitors
Calculate capacitance from physical characteristics of a
capacitor
Calculate current and voltage in an RC circuit at
various whole time constants
Solve for voltage, current and time in RC circuit
Inductors in a DC Circuit
 Define inductance and basic construction of an
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inductor
Describe voltage and current in steady state
Sketch current and voltage in a transient circuit
Calculate inductance from physical charactistics
Calculate current and voltage in an RC circuit at
various whole time constants
Solve for voltage, current and time in RL circuit
Resources
 https://techprepnwo.org/
 http://www.techprepswohio.org/
 http://makezine.com
 http://www.instructables.com/
 http://www.adafruit.com/
 http://www.arduino.cc/