The problem with STEM products @benjaminkeep

Uploaded March 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago

Educational STEM products can be a lot of fun. But do kids learn anything from them? I contrast a good STEM product form a not-so-good STEM product and explain what makes one better than the other.

00:00 A quick comparison
1:58 What happens when you use the product
2:20 Some ideas for improvements
3:46 Learning by doing?

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The products I talked about:

Tiny Polka Dot - mathforlove.com/awg/tiny-polka-dot
Snap Circuits - elenco.com/snapcircuits

Routine and Adaptive Expertise Explained | How Learning Works

Why Do We Still Believe in Learning Styles?

$Research Reveals 4 Surprising Facts About Learning Scientific research often requires us to rethink how things work. Here a four facts that get us thinking the right way about how learning works. 00:00 Fact 1 1:07 Fact 2 3:13 Fact 3 5:06 Fact 4 6:53 A cool thing to do My giveinternet.org link: https://giveinternet.org/BenjaminKeep Join my online learning community: https://www.benjaminkeep.com/community Edited by Presage Media: https://www.presage.media/ References On the testing effect: Karpicke, J. D. (2012). Retrieval-Based Learning: Active Retrieval Promotes Meaningful Learning. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21(3), 157–163. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412443552 Pan, S. C., & Rickard, T. C. (2018). Transfer of test-enhanced learning: Meta-analytic review and synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 144(7), 710–756. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000151 (testing effects do transfer) Jensen, J. L., McDaniel, M. A., Kummer, T. A., Godoy, P. D. D. M., & St. Clair, B. (2020). Testing Effect on High-Level Cognitive Skills. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 19(3), ar39. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.19-10-0193 (testing effect works for “high-level” questions; not just low-level questions) On the deceptiveness of immediate measures, see: Bjork, E. L., & Bjork, R. A. (2011). Making things hard on yourself, but in a good way: Creating desirable difficulties to enhance learning. Psychology and the real world: Essays illustrating fundamental contributions to society, 2(59-68). On the importance of prior knowledge and for an interesting overview of how learning works: John Bransford, Nancy Vye, Reed Stevens, Pat Kuhl, Daniel Schwartz, et al.. Learning Theories and Education: Toward a Decade of Synergy. P. Alexander & P. Winne. Handbook of Educational Psychology (2nd Edition), Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum., 95 p., 2005. ffhal-00190628f. https://telearn.hal.science/hal-00190628/document On the fraction study: Patel, R., Liu, R., & Koedinger, K. R. (2016). When to Block versus Interleave Practice? Evidence Against Teaching Fraction Addition before Fraction Multiplication. In CogSci. For other ideas about ordering effects, see: Schwartz, D. L., & Bransford, J. D. (1998). A time for telling. Cognition and instruction, 16(4), 475-5223. https://aaalab.stanford.edu/assets/papers/earlier/A_time_for_telling.pdf Fyfe, E. R., DeCaro, M. S., & Rittle‐Johnson, B. (2014). An alternative time for telling: When conceptual instruction prior to problem solving improves mathematical knowledge. British journal of educational psychology, 84(3), 502-519. https://louisville.edu/psychology/decaro/lab/publications-2/FyfeDeCaroRittleJohnson2014_BJEP.pdf$

What happens when you solve 2000 physics problems.

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Benjamin Keep, PhD, JD |

The problem with STEM products