Electronic wizard update

[maggi]

Update of thread - Electronic Wizard Apprenticeship

Have had our first delivery of this course. A box arrived which on first appraisal was very light and had a few household items in such as a duster cloth, a piece of a bin bag and a square of tin foil. I thought hmmm, what have I just spent loads of cash on then. But read on...
It has envelopes which you open to start the next project. Each contains its own set of equipment and instructions. The third envelope gets you soldering and by then we had had 7 hours of experiments and still going.
We have been money minded and got a kit for one which both boys have to share. This has worked well so far whilst I have directly supervised them. The boys are very interested and eager to make everything. They are not so keen on reading the notes and information or so I thought until they began correcting me on how to use the items.
It has been a big sucess so far = I wanted them to learn about electronics (physics) and they have. I wanted them to be curious enough to direct their own learning and they have.
My first impressions of very little equipment being sent in the boxes and the course not being worth the money has become molified and of course we have only had box 1.

All in all I would recommend it.

It has also inspired me to work harder to resource our own science projects from simple equipment.

[Colleger]

My son is finding it very boring and I do think I could have found it all on the Internet for free. :(

[maggi]

collager
Do you work with your son or does he like to go through it on his own? It may need a little parallel play on your part (doing it alongside but not directing).

I think the paperwork and instructions are a little bland (and produced on a costsaving budget) so could be hard to get into. Also if you go at it determined to get it all done asap, you miss the fun of exploring each idea that is presented. Doing one sheet at a time is plenty and over several weeks lets it sink in. We had to stop tonight as even though I uncovered our soldering iron, I could not find our solder. I know we have some, somewhere. The boys have gone back and have begun to design their own "what if" experiments. I have resisted the urge to comment on their rough handling of the bulbs (I'm surprized any of the legs are still attached to the diodes) because they have got the exploratory urge. Which is what I hoped they'd get out of it so I cant complain at the casualties. Hope they dont need the equipment for future boxes.

[maggi]

I dont think I have enough time/knowledge to get all this info from the net. It is surely available for free, but to put together a whole course would be a major undertaking.
But yes a little more colour (translate that as 'a lot more colour') and a better quality folder would make it a more attractive package.

[Colleger]

His dad did the first envelope last week and will do the next one this week so it's very spaced out. We've paid for a year so we're stuck with it. If he had a friend to do it with him then he may get more pleasure from it in the same way your boys are.

I've not checked all the contents - does it come with all the soldering stuff?

[ThreadWatcher]

Hmm differing opinions!

Roughly how much is it for the year and how many parcels do you get for that?

[maggi]

Colleger
The kits are supposed to come with everything except the soldering iron and the solder. Was your ds looking forward to doing the course before it arrived?

Threadwatcher
Think its now £299 PER year. Think you get 12 boxes. All the reviews I found before I bought into it were very positive.

[Colleger]

My son did envelope 2 tonight. He seemed to enjoy it more but I still think I could have done it all very cheaply s all that stuff is easy to find out online or in The Dangerous Book for Boys!

[HerrenaHarridan]

Please keep updating, my dd is too young for this but if I can follow your progress it sounds like something we could both enjoy together