True Jack

Close the loop on a slot breadboard before anyone ever touches a wall outlet. True Jack is an offline-first electronics workshop for middle-school STEM clubs, 4-H electricity kids, scout electricity-badge mentors, and homeschool labs. Learners tap sockets, light a lamp, and name why the path is open, closed, or shorted. This is not a freeform circuit sandbox and not a project diary. OPEN A KIT, NOT A BLANK CANVAS Every session starts with a seeded breadboard kit: Lamp Solo, Series Pair, Parallel Pair, 3-Way Hallway, or Door Buzzer. Goals, constraints, and success criteria appear on launch so the bench has a job to do. PLACE PARTS THE WAY A REAL KIT WORKS Use the slot-tap placer and a component tray: battery, SPST switch, lamp, resistor, LED, and buzzer. Tap a socket to cycle parts. Undo and redo any placement. There is no freeform canvas drag, so the board stays as tidy as a physical electronics kit. CHECK CIRCUIT, SEE THE PATH An instant solver labels the result lit, dark, open, or short with color-safe status chips and a current-path highlighter. You see why the lamp lit, or why it stayed dark. SERIES, PARALLEL, AND THE OHM TRIANGLE Side-by-side diagrams use the same seed loads so series and parallel are visible, not just named. Numeric V/I split examples keep classroom talk concrete. The Ohm triangle trainer walks seeded voltage, current, and resistance problems with unit chips. FIND THE FAULT Fault-find mode hides one break or a dead lamp in each scenario. A limited hint stepper keeps the hunt honest. SAFETY IS THE LESSON Safety studio contrasts battery kits with mains power, explains why wall outlets are off-limits, and builds fuse and short literacy. Practice circuit thinking here and leave the wall outlet alone. DRILLS, NOT DIARIES Timed Light-the-Load drills and a skill checklist aligned to scout and 4-H electricity topics. Completion stars mark practiced skills. There is no personal project log. READY WHEN CLUB MEETS The lab is offline-first. Daily challenge notifications and a home-screen widget teaser keep cold-start previews from looking empty. BUILT TO BE READ Oversized sockets, pattern-coded parts for color-blind users, screen-reader labels, and reduced-motion solver animations. Practice real circuit thinking with seeded kits, instant path feedback, and safety-first lessons in a lab-bench UI that feels like opening a physical electronics kit.

Behind-the-scenes improvements help the app run more efficiently.