STEM Projects for Teens by EEME
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What’s one of the first clues that you’re getting old? When you tell your kids their music is too loud. Brian and I are so getting old. Why is it that kids always want their music blasting out of the speakers?
We were that way, too, though. Before we got old. What better way to capitalize on the interests of tween and teens than by letting them build their own amplifier? If you’d like an incredibly fun, educational, hands-on way to introduce STEM topics in your homeschool, Project Amp from EEME may be just what you’re looking for.
What is EEME?
EEME makes hands-on projects and free online lessons to teach kids electronics – to foster their curiosity for how things work and prep them for the STEM opportunities of tomorrow. Each project kit is paired with online curricula to not only show your kids how to assemble the kit, but more importantly, teach them how it works.
Project Amp is one of those kits. It’s designed for kids ages 10 and up and ships as a one-time project or six monthly projects. We’ve been getting the monthly installments – just a bit quicker than monthly for the purpose of completing the review. You can check out our initial impressions with Project Amp Kit #1.
How is Project Amp paced?
In all, there are over 50 online lessons to complete Project Amp. One thing that really surprised me about this particular project was how quickly Megan was able to actually play her iPod through the amp.
By the second kit, she was playing her music through the speaker. It wasn’t at its peak volume and there was no volume control through the speaker itself yet, but the sound quality was still very impressive.
I think that’s probably a key factor in maintaining the interest-level in the project. Each kit takes about an hour or so to complete, but being able to see (and hear) results early on has kept Megan interested in the project. As a matter of fact, when the second kit arrived in the mail, she asked if we could do it that very afternoon.
Getting the 3rd kit completed took a few more reminders, but only because it arrived after we’d started summer break. Summer break brain settles in quickly, y’all. Plus, teenagers make plans with their friends pretty quickly when school is out.
What do we think about Project Amp?
I asked Megan what she would tell someone about Project Amp. She said, “It’s cool that by really simple instructions you can build an amp yourself and learn about how it all works.”
That is Project Amp in a nutshell. The instructions really are simple. For the first couple of kits, I sat with Megan in case she needed help. The only thing she has asked for help on has been wrapping the wires tightly for a couple of steps.
She did all the rest of it on her own. As a matter of fact, when she did Kit #3, I had some work I needed to do, so she worked at one end of the table and I worked at the other, stopping every once in awhile to take pictures for the review post.
Even though Megan has completed each kit in one sitting, I like that the video lessons are broken down into short sessions that make it easy to find a good stopping point if you can’t complete the entire kit at once.
I also like the fact that the videos aren’t simply a tutorial on building an amp. They explain the science behind why and how each step in the process works.
Project Amp makes a great hands-on STEM project for teens, but EEME has a whole host of other kits, too. You can use them for fun summer projects, as part of your homeschool curriculum, or even an engaging co-op project.
Keep an eye out for our final review post once we complete the project. In the meantime, you can sign up for free at EEME to access EEME’s online lessons. You can also connect with EEME on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or the EEME blog.
Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.