Some questions I have about an educational electronics kit

[int6h]

I've started learning electronics quite a while ago, but I haven't done any big serious projects yet. One day I was browsing through educational electronics kits, which are mainly marketed towards schools and young enthusiasts. Some of them (at least those readily available on the market in my country) had a lot in common:

• they featured only basic components (resistors, caps, inductors, LEDs, a few transistors and 555 timer)
• they offered very little actual education unless you have a teacher nearby
• they offered very little problem solving, they were more of a toy rather than a puzzle
• they rarely really explained how all the circuits worked
• they were a little bit (and some a lot) overpriced, but that's just my opinion
• they focused on analog circuits

Take a look. I know it's not English, but this is everything they tell you about the circuit, and you can guess it's not a whole lot.


Other kits were basically just Arduino kits.
So, as an exercise in making some real, finished project (more for myself than for other people) that is also feasible (in $ and brain petaflops), I decided to design a similar electronics starter kit, and I want some advice from experienced people or just someone with common sense. But with some changes to the philosophy:

• it should be focused on a slightly older audience
• it should actually teach physics
• it should require problem solving and serve as a kind of puzzle
• it shouldn't include many useless (IMO) circuits, i.e. it won't feature a dozen of NE555 buzzers and alarms; instead it should focus on more abstract devices
• consequently, it should teach the basics of digital logic

I feel that the gap between low-level analog (RCL) kits and high-level digital kits is too large, and children/teenagers who want to learn electronics skip the low-level digital (i.e. a TTL computer level kit), and this is something I personally would love as a child.

I think points 2, 4, 5 are straight-forward (I think it's an illusion), but 1 and 3 are a little difficult.
As of #1, I think that teenagers are harder to lure into physics, electronics and other STEM things, since they all have their own hobbies and are scared by our educational system.

As of #3, I'm not sure how exactly it should be implemented. Analytical thinking-ish problems would make the thing more engaging, but I haven't seen this accomplished. The classic approach to this issue in school is usually just textbook problems. I don't want the players to do lots of maths or other conventional stuff, but on the other hand I don't want the puzzles to be trivial. I want something similar to the complexity level of "logic gate puzzles" for iOS/Android (google Circuit Scramble).

If you aren't bored yet, my questions are exactly:

• How can I create engaging puzzles?
• How can I interest teenagers/children before they open the box? I.e. how to make them want to buy it? (I'm not necessarily going to sell it or get profit)
• What exactly should I include in the box? I'm thinking about things like cheap VI/VIR meter, USB adapter for 5V. Some beginners will have both.
• Is it better to make the thing modular or just one big box? Modular kits might be considered incomplete/ripoffs/non-serious/toys, but they allow for more flexibility and lower budgets and will allow potential customers to "get hooked" and get involved in electronics.

And please don't judge my simplistic approach. That's just a suggestion, though.