We're documenting our attempt to build a better STEM toy | Hacker News Reader

We're documenting our attempt to build a better STEM toy

inventronix.club

Bookmarking. I grew up when those kits were science fiction from the future. Long story short, years after dinky circuits, and train-transformer power supplies, I started building microcomputers and built a career from that "hobby". I never took an electronics or computer course in my life. It's a blast.

STEM before there was STEM. :-)

I had a plan to work with kids after school to collect data in the field and analyze it on computers with open source software, and give them a CD/DVD to take home (it was that long ago) and give them access from home. Pride of ownership. "This is my work".

I am interested in how this can be implemented. Many kids aren't self-teachers, and will need some and they will need some guidance, i.e. proof and reinforcement, especially that "how to solder" part, if it comes up.

Thanks for the bookmark!

> I never took an electronics or computer course in my life.

Same! One of my favourite things about these fields is that you can take the time and learn everything you need to know just by looking at the internet.

> I had a plan to work with kids after school to collect data in the field and analyze it on computers with open source software, and give them a CD/DVD to take home (it was that long ago) and give them access from home. Pride of ownership. "This is my work".

This sounds really interesting. Why did it not work out? I think pride of ownership is an important aspect of this so keen to take any learnings.

> Many kids aren't self-teachers Totally agree, the aim here is to get away from 'looking at random blogs for 4 hours' to building your first project. Then introduce them to trawling the internet for arcan knowledge slowly ;)

Let me toss a few ideas your way.

1. I have found internet sources of information byte-sized, disconnected, and incoherent. When people ask about books, I say that they have the "three C's," Continuity, Coherence and Context. Something about the internet seems to encourage foraging over farming, but that might just reflect my current internet habits.

2. I never ran into a partner to help start and grow the idea.

3. "Packaging" is important. Nothing real happens for free. We all knew this when we bought parts or kits. The internet has its downsides. Long story short, just helping people take time away from it can be beneficial. The lure and benefits have to outweigh the costs. I personally got payback, albeit modest, from every kit built and every bit of learning, sooner or later. The "This is fun" aspect might call for a community of users or a mentor of sorts. I have been tech help for a lot of people over time, and honestly, there's no comparison between phone and text messages (still doing it) and "being there", and that is/was key on the after-school idea. Do what works for you and your young (or old) customers.

Sharing the first build log of our STEM toy startup: why we’re building it, the tech stack, what’s working, and what’s not. Looking for advice + ideas from this crowd.

Cool idea. I grew up with the most basic Snap Circuits kit[1] and a solderless breadboard kit from RadioShack[2] - other toys you might look to for inspiration.

I think I was about 12 when I got these, and I remember that the learning curve between them was pretty steep - I was building all sorts of custom circuits with Snap, but had maxed out the capabilities of such basic parts pretty quickly. I never did figure out how to make anything other than the step-by-step projects with the breadboard kit. Although the ICs on Snap are kind of laughable, I could at least figure out what they did (also I seem to remember every one of them just played a sound), but the Radio shack kit never really explained why anything worked the way it did or what the applications were outside of its recipes, so eventually it just went on the shelf and was forgotten. That would be one trap to avoid from my experience.

[1]: https://shop.elenco.com/consumers/snap-circuits-jr-100-exper...

[2]: https://www.amazon.com/RadioShack-28-280-Electronics-Learnin...

Hey, thanks! These are really cool bits of inspiration.

> but the Radio shack kit never really explained why anything worked the way it did...

This has been my experience also. We recently built a solar powered toy with my nephews and when we got to the end they asked 'so how does it work?' which hit the point home for me.

Do you have any ideas on how to create engaging content for the app around this? We've got so far: - Mini articles on each component (with accompanying video). - Mini quizzes to embed learning.

I don't have any great ideas on how to do it right - I'm in the "don't know what I don't know" phase of electronics. Part of the reason I quit playing with electronics was that I already knew Visual Basic pretty well, and so I could program engaging things quickly while the electronics took a lot of fiddling with no understanding to sometimes get a result.

This has been a handicap in my career where I would by default reach for a Raspberry Pi or a National Instruments RIO in places where an IC or a Arduino would suffice. Stuff like data acquisition units (DAQ) and control systems are prime examples. Maybe by giving those applications first? I can think of several projects my 12-year-old self would have found a use for a DAQ or control system.

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