scrapbabe Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 My 14 year old son has expressed interest in learning more about electrical circuits - the color coding, etc. He's done tones of snap circuit things and lego robotics, but he wants the real nuts and bolts of circuitry. I'm thinking it would be good for him to learn with a breadboard and the works - probably no soldering at first... but I could use ideas for those kinds of things too. Does anyone have any ideas for kits that would teach him as well as give him hands on experience? Also, are there any good books about the subject? Thanks so much!:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deniseibase Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 Funny you should ask - my husband, who designs security systems, is just starting this week to teach our daughter electronics. They are using the Make: Electronics book - http://www.amazon.com/Make-Electronics-Discovery-Charles-Platt/dp/0596153740 He bought what he needed for it at Radio Shack, apparently Make has a kit that goes with it too, but he says you don't save any money by buying the kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 I don't know about kits. Our dump has a "it still has some life in it" pile, so people can bring stuff they don't use anymore and others can take it. Ds brought home a broken CD player, several radio type things, head sets, speakers, etc and rewired all of them so they worked again. After he played with sound systems for a couple of years, he started on lighting. Grandpa got him an electricians tool box (with tools.) I suspect it was more fun than any kits on the market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 Funny you should ask - my husband, who designs security systems, is just starting this week to teach our daughter electronics. They are using the Make: Electronics book - http://www.amazon.com/Make-Electronics-Discovery-Charles-Platt/dp/0596153740 He bought what he needed for it at Radio Shack, apparently Make has a kit that goes with it too, but he says you don't save any money by buying the kit. Great resource, thanks! Geo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 I've recently added this to my wish list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 Funny you should ask - my husband, who designs security systems, is just starting this week to teach our daughter electronics. They are using the Make: Electronics book - http://www.amazon.com/Make-Electronics-Discovery-Charles-Platt/dp/0596153740 He bought what he needed for it at Radio Shack, apparently Make has a kit that goes with it too, but he says you don't save any money by buying the kit. This is what my dc are using right now, too. We have been making weekly pilgrimages to Radio Shack and purchases from allelectronics.com. :D Instead of a one-time use kit, they are building a set of tools and parts (and skills!) that they can use for a long time. My dd loves that it doesn't just tell you what to do, it tells you why, the history of the names, who invented what, etc. I can't recommend it enough! They start using the breadboard in chapter two, but they don't get to soldering until later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapbabe Posted May 8, 2011 Author Share Posted May 8, 2011 My 14 year old son has expressed interest in learning more about electrical circuits - the color coding, etc. He's done tones of snap circuit things and lego robotics, but he wants the real nuts and bolts of circuitry. I'm thinking it would be good for him to learn with a breadboard and the works - probably no soldering at first... but I could use ideas for those kinds of things too. Does anyone have any ideas for kits that would teach him as well as give him hands on experience? Also, are there any good books about the subject? Thanks so much!:001_smile: Thanks, this looks really good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapbabe Posted May 8, 2011 Author Share Posted May 8, 2011 This is what my dc are using right now, too. We have been making weekly pilgrimages to Radio Shack and purchases from allelectronics.com. :D Instead of a one-time use kit, they are building a set of tools and parts (and skills!) that they can use for a long time. My dd loves that it doesn't just tell you what to do, it tells you why, the history of the names, who invented what, etc. I can't recommend it enough! They start using the breadboard in chapter two, but they don't get to soldering until later. Thanks for sharing specifics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 Bumping this old thread for any additional ideas. We just got our Science Olympiad assignments and one of the events is "Shock Value" aka circuits. DH studied Electrical Engineering undergrad so we've got a toolbox full of components (hopefully still in working order!) but I'd like to at least look over some pre-made kits to see what they include. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happycc Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 We love EEME... My kids are learning a lot from the monthly kits and videos. http://www.eeme.co/ Very well done and explained. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happycc Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 I've been wanting the kids make this for the younger kids for fun. http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-some-Feltronics/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckymama Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 Dd did Shock Value last year (I expect probably this year as well), and she and her partner placed second in the state. They worked on the theory (equations etc) and "messed around" with all various components, keeping track of results and so on. Dd's partner used the Apologia Physics book and dd used one of the physics books from her sibs as this was before I purchased Giancoli Physics. The kids didn't use a kit of any sort. They had access to wires, batteries, resistors, light bulbs and LEDs, switches, capacitors (NOT included for Division B), motors, and so on. Last year's rules had half of the scoring from the hands-on portion and half from the theoretical portion. This year it may be 25-50% practical and 50-75% theoretical. (sorry if this is disjointed. I've been making dinner while replying!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 We have a copy of Hewitt's "Conceptual Physics" already but I'll check to see what other physics books I can find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 I just bought the Make Electronics book and kits. We have just started them, and they are excellent. The kits are expensive, but not for what you get. Perhaps you can just buy the book and use what you have. http://www.makershed.com/Make_Electronics_book_by_Charles_Platt_p/9780596153748.htm Ruth in NZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dovrar Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 Bumping this old thread for any additional ideas. We just got our Science Olympiad assignments and one of the events is "Shock Value" aka circuits. DH studied Electrical Engineering undergrad so we've got a toolbox full of components (hopefully still in working order!) but I'd like to at least look over some pre-made kits to see what they include. Can you tell me more about Science Olympiad? I went to the webpage, but am having trouble figuring out exactly what it's all about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 I wanted to mention a really old source. Alfred Morgan was an MIT electrical engineer graduate back in the early 1900s. He wrote a lot of books for "boys" on electricity, mechanics, etc. The explanations on the fundamental principles are excellent....everything from how batteries work to radio waves. I am actually reading A First Electrical Book for Boys to my 11 yr old dd right now. A lot of the items discussed are "ancient" technology, but the principles are still the same. And, goodness, they are most definitely not PC (not referring to the boy in the title)......difference between now and then is The Christmas Story theme: you'll shoot your eye out. Anyway, here is a link to a PDF of The Boy Electrician and it contains a link to The Boy Mechanic. http://danielwebb.us/projects/pd_tech_books/ ETA: I was just doing some searches while watching tv with dh and came across this engineer's reflections on these books. I enjoyed it ,so I thought I'd share. http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/hands-on/the-first-book-of-electronics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 Can you tell me more about Science Olympiad? I went to the webpage, but am having trouble figuring out exactly what it's all about. We're new to Science Olympiad this year so I'm not really the best source. From what the coach has described, the meets are a mix of hands-on events and test-taking ones. The elementary division goes up through 6th but there are no state or national level competitions. Middle school is 6th-9th, and high school is 9th-12th. So 6th and 9th have the option of choosing which division to compete in, but only a certain number of 9th graders can compete on a middle school team. There are 23 events in this year's middle school division and teams can have up to 15 members. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckymama Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 Can you tell me more about Science Olympiad? I went to the webpage, but am having trouble figuring out exactly what it's all about. We're new to Science Olympiad this year so I'm not really the best source. From what the coach has described, the meets are a mix of hands-on events and test-taking ones. The elementary division goes up through 6th but there are no state or national level competitions. Middle school is 6th-9th, and high school is 9th-12th. So 6th and 9th have the option of choosing which division to compete in, but only a certain number of 9th graders can compete on a middle school team. There are 23 events in this year's middle school division and teams can have up to 15 members. I've been a Science Olympiad coach since my son, the college junior, was in fourth grade. I even participated in the first year of the brand-new Science Olympiad as a high school senior. This is the 30th year of SO so you do the math :lol: Kids have to participate on a team as there is no individual competition. Homeschoolers can have their own teams, like we do here. Depending on your state's homeschooling rules a student may be able to join a public or private school team. I know Capt_Uhura's ds will be participating on a school team this year. As Crimson Wife said above, the events may be hands-on or test events. There are actually three types of events-----test events (the students study ahead given certain parameters and then take a paper-and-pencil test on the day of competition; stations may be involved in identifying-type events), lab events (a mix of test and hands-on, for example identifying unknown white powders), and "build" events in which the students build a device of some sort (a bridge, a trebuchet, a bottle rocket, a powered car, a helicopter) for day-of competition. The event topics range between biology, geology, earth science, chemistry, physics, and technology/engineering. Every team has its own rules for participation. Some teams are very difficult to get on and the school or team holds tryouts! Some teams will take anyone they can get to fill the roster. Some teams only allow kids to do two events each year. Other teams allow whatever number the student wants. On our team we ask the kids (and parents--parents attend our two official full-team meetings, one at the start of the season and one the week of competition) to only sign up for what they can reasonably handle. It's very easy to overload oneself! National rules limit students to five events per year (there are six time slots in any competition, local/regional/state/national). My dd has participated in five events the past two years in Division B (6th-9th) but she is the exception. Dd spends about an hour a day on her SO events during the season (which runs here from Nov after the state coaches' meeting until March after the state competition---other regions or states may vary), though she ramps it up to a minimum of two hours a day the month before competition. She reads and studies, takes practice tests, and works on her build event. Build events can suck up a lot of time and money (!) so we coaches recommend a student takes only one build event per year. Our team has a large amount of resources collected over the years that the students may "check out" for studying. We have textbooks, other written resources, CDs and DVDs, flashcards sets, field guides, teacher resources published by SO, and years of the tests given at national. If anyone has questions about Science Olympiad please start a new thread and pm me :) We love SO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie of KY Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 "I" really like the MAKE Electronics book, but my son isn't so enthused about it. He's working on the Learn by Doing kits by Applied Inspirations and loving it. I think these are great kits. http://appliedinspirations.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 "I" really like the MAKE Electronics book, but my son isn't so enthused about it. He's working on the Learn by Doing kits by Applied Inspirations and loving it. I think these are great kits. http://appliedinspirations.com/ Those look right up my kids' alley, especially the HexBug hack! Thanks so much for the link! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happycc Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 Lots of circuit work here!! One of my daughters is the one soldering! I wanted to share with you what my kids do at Hackerscouts which is held in a hackerspace: Here it is! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/832476585/hacker-scouts-oakland-lab See if you can find one near you and if not start one of your own! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapbabe Posted October 8, 2013 Author Share Posted October 8, 2013 Thanks for reviving this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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