Essential Question: How can reverse engineering help me better understand the way certain electronics work?

I already know that reverse engineering is a form of engineering that allows you to go inside a machine or device or whatever system and usually fix whatever is broken. It is important for me to find out more about this question because if I am looking to pursue a future career in engineering, then I should start by learning more about the components that make up different devices. After all, the best way to learn in school is usually to master the seemingly less complex things, which can then be used in more complex situations. In doing this reverse engineering project, I can learn more about the “basics” of engineering which would help me with the more complex aspects of it moving forward. Some experiences I am bringing with me into this project are mainly from the summer when I did a Summer STEM Program at the Cooper Union. We took apart an RC car in the beginning which allowed us to learn a bit about what exactly makes up the car, and the rest of the summer we spent mainly designing and coding. It is for this reason exactly that I feel it is important for me to learn more about my essential question. I wasn’t as exposed to the mechanical aspect of engineering over the summer, and this question allows me to better explore that aspect. Additionally, even with the coding and designing aspect, I ended up getting a lot of help on it which made me become too dependent on those teaching me. This essential question gives me the opportunity to focus more on strengthening such skills and in doing so, would allow me to better understand engineering as a whole. Some areas of inquiry I feel might need exploring are the components of each item I take apart and their significance in the greater whole, as well as purposes for reverse engineering and taking some of those purposes into practice.