Teaching a HS-Level class in Basic Electronics Theory

I'm in the process of developing a HS-Level class in Basic Electronics Theory at a nearby private school. I've had some discussions with that school's Math/Science teacher, and he seemed to think that such a class as this would probably be of interest to some of that school's 11-12 grade students. There are various opportunities for a young student will this kind of electronics training available in this school's region (Middle TN), and with a knowledge of electronics, a young person could go quite far. Right now, I'm examining some text books that cover the kind of material I plan to cover, but securing the kinds of lab test equipment is a very difficult obstacle for me---due to their very high costs for this small private school. I haven't yet talked to any outside commercial dealers about this, so there IS a possibility that some business(es) may be willing to donate some of their used, but still in good working order, test equipment. These past couple years have been a real issue for this school--with Covid-19 & the accompanying "lockdowns," so right now my plans are to offer this class in maybe a year or two from the new school year which will begin this coming August/September. Any comments or ideas on this class would certainly be welcomed!!

 

Even though I live in the "Music City USA" area, I don't have too many connections with people who might be directly involved with that industry. Actually, most of my formal training has been more in the History realm (I have an MA degree in History from a state university). OTOH, my experience in electronics has come from (1) My TN ANG job as an Avionics Technician, and (2) My 18 years as an Electronic Technician with AT&T Telecommunications. Both of those occupations didn't deal too much in electronics theory as a day-to-day practice as such, but I still have their materials & have been refreshing myself by reading them. I personally haven't looked at EBay yet, but I might try to at some stage. Personally, I prefer dealing with people who are actually involved in an industry that calls for folks with an electronics background. The Dell Computer company has a large manufacturing plant only a few miles from the private school where I'm planning to teach (Also, any donations that they might make to a school can be deducted from their company's income taxes!). Their nearby presence is one place in which I plan to look into for some "deals." I already tried negotiating with AT&T, but they seem to think that someone who's electronics education didn't strictly come from their own private school(s) would be more interested in competing with them. Go figure!!??!! Also I'm dealing with the Cleveland Institute of Electronics (CIE). They have many world-class materials (I WAS enrolled in one of their classes years ago but had to drop out due to personal reasons.), and, while their costs are comparatively low for the industry, they're still too expensive for the small private school's budget. I don't know of any schools nearby that even have an electronics theory course. One charter school does have some college prep courses, but, here again, you'd have to actually enroll in their course(s) to use their materials.