I was asked to review a Project Genius Light Kit from EEME. EEME was started by a dad who wanted to offer his son more than just toys. He wanted options that teach and instill a curiosity for learning how things work.
So, he created EEME.co to teach kids how to make hands-on projects in combination with online video instruction to teach concepts in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. This is otherwise known as STEM education.
I searched and still am not sure what, or if, the letters "EEME" stand for anything. I assume it has something to do with electronics, engineering, education, and mechanics. However, this is pretty much still part of the curiosity that has been instilled in me as part of this review. The other mystery we had - figuring out how to create a working Project Genius Light Kit - has been answered through this amazing site.
So, I'll start by cutting to the chase and showing you the end result, which was really fun. Our LED Genius Light project worked.
Now, I'll back up a bit and show you how we got to the final results.
The projects and videos are geared toward children between the ages of 7 to 12 years old. I used it with my 7 year old daughter who has next to no experience with electrical circuits or STEM education.
The Project Genius Kit is one of the kits that comes with an EEME subscription. The subscriptions sell for $18.95 a month and come with a new kit every month complete with all of the electronic components needed to build each new project. Each month builds on the previous month’s knowledge.
The kit we received had everything we needed to follow along with the learning videos. It had a 2-part plastic case, 4 screws and hex nuts, 4 wires, 2 resistors, a battery case, batteries, and an LED light bulb.
The videos took about 45 minutes to watch. In the end, we had a completed project. In the meantime, we learned about circuits and about resistors because the videos didn’t just merely show us how to put together the parts we received. The videos included tons of information about circuits and how they conduct electricity as well as how they are interrupted or slowed down.
All this required was a laptop to run the videos on, I used a laptop that runs Windows 7, and the Genius Light kit that I received in the mail.
I sat down with my 7 year old daughter and opened up the kit we received in the mail. I set all of the part out and began to watch the videos on my laptop with her. The videos were all fairly short, with complicated details given in bite-sized pieces. The longest video we saw was just slightly more than 7 minutes. Most of them were about a minute and a half, and there were 14 videos total, with a few quizzes that popped up in between videos.
The quizzes were short multiple choice questions that pertained to the lesson we watched in the video just prior to the pop-up quiz. When we would get the answer correct, the screen would pop up with an encouraging, “Good Job!” If we got it wrong, it would say, “Sorry” and we could try again. There was only one question we got wrong.
This was a fantastic experience for my 7 year old, and I liked how the videos asked for the parent's help when the details got a bit tricky. It was really good for building confidence in my 7 year old as she is used to being in her older brother's shadow. Her brother lives, eats and breathes electronics and gaming. However, he was still sleeping when we sat down to go through this EEME video course and construct our LED Project Genius Light Kit.
In the end, she was very proud that she helped build the kit herself, with my help, but without the help of her big brother, our resident electronics genius!
Please read what other members of the Schoohouse Review Crew thought, here, or click on the picture below:
No comments:
Post a Comment