Goodbye, real electronic lab kits?
The archetypal STEM toy killed by our obsession with STEM toys.
As a kid, I didn’t have a whole lot of toys, but I have fond memories of owning an “electronics lab” kit. These kits, popularized in the West in the 1980s, had a variety of components mounted on a plastic board, each hooked up to its own set of spring terminals. In the US, you could buy the kits under brand names such as Science Fair, Radio Shack, Ramsey Electronics, and Elenco:
Of course, on the other side of the Iron Curtain, we didn’t have that, not exactly. We had a Czechoslovakian suitcase-mounted knock-off that hit the shelves in the final days before the collapse of the USSR:
The Czechoslovakian kit was interesting in a couple of ways — not the least of which was its use of a rare Combloc op-amp, almost certainly a copy of LM741 made possible by the wonders of Cold War espionage.
Anyway, the real treat in all versions of the product was a booklet containing a large collection of interesting circuit schematics, each accompanied by design notes:
At the time, I didn’t understand a fair amount of it — especially for radio circuits — but it was still exciting to tinker with the designs. Plus, after every attempt, I felt like I learned a bit more.
Because I remembered the kit as a valuable educational tool, I bought a US-designed “200-in-one” version for my son about a decade ago. At that point, you could still buy that particular model from Ramsey Electronics. This week, I looked again. Apparently, the kit is no longer being made, along with most other fully-featured kits of this type. If you still want one, eBay is your best chance.
It’s not that I’m overly nostalgic. Breadboards are about as easy to use, and assortments of parts can be bought on the cheap. But what we might be losing is a kit that’s made with a purpose and accompanied with a range of well-thought-out project ideas you can immediately bring to life. There’s no need to scour the internet for schematics and then wait for mail-order parts.
Why did these products go extinct in an era of over-the-top emphasis on STEM? If I had to wager, I’d point at Snap Circuits: a series of electronic project kits that debuted in the mid-2000s and traded spring terminals for snap buttons mounted to injection-molded component blocks:
Snap Circuits gained considerable popularity, but represented a step back for principled learning. The increased size and cost of components limited design choice. The assembly method made it hard to route complex circuits (and keep them from falling apart). But above all, Snap Circuits gave up on teaching electronics. Much of the time, you play a game where you stack mystery boxes — and if you get that right, you’re be rewarded with canned sound effects:
As parents, we had a choice between two products that purported to teach electronics — except one of them also looked like a cool construction toy. Of course Snap Circuits made for a safer and more accessible gift. And for the average kid, what’s not to like? You get some quick gratification (and your parents’ approval) with no need to learn any boring theory.
Naturally, the outcome is ironic: our obsession with STEM in early education prompted us to dumb down science toys to the point where they appeal to every kid, but teach very little. This is on full display in The New York Times’ 2023 STEM gift guide. Their line-up includes one of the few surviving “old-style” kits — but they recommend against gifting it to anyone:
“The kit’s complex instruction booklet dives deep into electronics concepts by meticulously explaining the vocabulary and explaining how to connect different parts of the board with wires to achieve various effects. All but one of the kids on our panel who tried the Electronic Playground found it boring or confusing.”
Toys don’t need to educate, and we don’t need to push every child toward hard sciences and tech. But if you are a parent desperate to raise an engineer: I’m pretty sure that back in my day, playing with one of these old-fashioned spring-terminal kits served as a good predictor of a nerdy career down the line. With Snap Circuits, I wouldn’t be holding my breath.
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I had one of the Radio Shack kits, used it a ton, and my enjoyment had a substantial impact on me going into tech and getting into electrical engineering in college. The kit now hangs on a wall in our house because of that. I also loved the Forest M. Mims booklets that described how components and circuits worked, and I still have them.
I have a German early kit, and the Radio Shack snap-together kit also. Used both to teach kids.