1. Alex Faron
EEN499
Reuven Lask
Internship Report
During the summer of 2015, I learned many lessons through my internship with
iD Tech. I instructed classes in C++ and Electrical Engineering using Arduino.
Designing and teaching a curriculum for a two-week course on such broad topics was a
dynamic challenge. I had to decide what concepts were fundamental and could be fully
understood in the timeframe and scope of the class. I also had to teach the same concept
through a multitude of perspectives because learning styles vary between students.
Through the guidelines set by iD Tech and the teambuilding skills of my co-workers, the
opportunity to teach this summer has opened my eyes to many other opportunities in the
engineering industry.
As the Roman philosopher Seneca stated and modern science has reinforced,
“While we teach, we learn”. Teaching teenagers about the fundamentals of engineering
was a true test of my understanding and retention. I had to tailor my words and
perspective to reach the audience I was presenting too. Once that was overcome, the
ambition and drive of the students thoroughly impressed me. The class learned most of
the concepts taught in the University’s Introduction to Programming class in the course
of two weeks. Adapting to student skill level was a challenge too; some students had zero
experience while others knew multiple languages. An example of adapting to skill level
and encouraging a student’s drive was when a few advanced students finished the

2. planned curriculum so I taught them about dynamic arrays through a coding challenge.
Students also wanted to realize graphics windows so I searched for a well-documented
graphics library and taught the class how to use SFML (Simple and Fast Multimedia
Library).
Incorporating some of my favorite topics made the class unique and gave the
instructors a chance to learn something new as well. Circuit bending, repurposing
electronics for another purpose, is an interesting logical challenge that encourages real-
world skills and practicality. Using hacker methods, we were able to realize many
projects for reduced cost by repurposing components such as potentiometers and
headphone jacks. I also learned new skills from my co-workers such as randomization of
graphic windows and game design components.
Overall, there were many lessons learned through my internship this summer.
Some of the most important lessons I learned were outside the scope of engineering and
are real-world skills that employers value. Learning to vary teaching and learning styles
such as kinesthetic, auditory, visual, social, and logical helped reinforce topics in ways
that simply reading a textbook never could. Through teamwork, careful planning, and
dynamic learning, I was honored to be a part of a technology camp that got teenagers
motivated about the STEM field. I will consider taking another position in technology
education because of my positive experience with iD Tech Camps.