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Taking Things Apart: Why Reverse Engineering Is the Most Underrated STEM Activity
Dismantling old electronics, toys, and appliances teaches children how real systems are built — the actual circuits, gears, and mechanisms inside everyday objects. This is reverse engineering, and it develops engineering intuition no curriculum matches.
Every household has a drawer of broken things nobody bothered to throw away: a dead remote control, an old calculator, a broken clock radio. These objects are engineering education waiting to happen — complete, real systems that can be opened, examined, and understood.
Professional engineers call this “reverse engineering” — the systematic study of how an existing system was built, usually for the purpose of understanding, replicating, or improving it. It’s a core engineering competency. It’s also exactly what curious children do when given a screwdriver and permission to open something.
What Children Find Inside
The inside of everyday objects is one of the best-kept educational secrets in most homes. Here’s what children typically discover:
Inside a broken clock radio:
- A transformer that steps down wall voltage
- Capacitors (the cylindrical components that store charge)
- An oscillator circuit that keeps precise time
- A speaker with a magnet, coil, and paper cone
- An AM/FM tuner circuit
Any of these components is a lesson in physics. The speaker alone demonstrates electromagnetism, resonance, and mechanical vibration. The capacitors demonstrate charge storage. The transformer demonstrates electromagnetic induction.
Inside a printer:
- Stepper motors with precise rotational control
- Encoder strips that track position
- Timing belts and gear trains
- Infrared sensors for paper detection
- A print head with microscopic nozzles
The stepper motor alone — a component that rotates in precise increments of 1.8 degrees per step — is a lesson in electromagnetic control systems that most engineering students don’t encounter until college.
| Object to Disassemble | What Children Find | Engineering Concepts |
|---|---|---|
| Old radio/clock | PCB, capacitors, coils, speaker | Electronics, electromagnetism |
| Broken toy | DC motors, gear trains, switches | Mechanical engineering |
| Dead hard drive | Disk platters, read heads, actuators | Precision mechanics, magnetics |
| Printer | Stepper motors, belts, encoders | Control systems, mechanical |
| Old keyboard | Key switches, membrane, connector | Human interface design |
| Broken calculator | LCD display, microchip, battery connector | Electronics, display technology |
The Safety Protocol
This is the legitimate concern, and it deserves a direct answer.
Safe to open (with adult supervision for younger children):
- Anything battery-powered (with batteries removed)
- Anything that plugs into 5V USB
- Old hard drives, CDs, keyboards, mice
- Mechanical toys and clocks
- Remote controls, calculators, handheld games
NOT safe to open under any circumstances:
- Anything with a CRT screen (old TVs, monitors) — can hold dangerous charge for years after unplugging
- Microwave ovens — capacitors store lethal voltage
- Large capacitors from power supplies — can discharge severely
The rule is simple: battery-powered objects with batteries removed are safe. Wall-powered objects with large capacitors (TVs, monitors, microwave ovens) are not. Teach children this distinction explicitly — it’s an important safety concept in itself.
Tools for Disassembly
The right tools make disassembly accessible and educational:
- Precision screwdriver set ($10-20): Torx, Phillips, flathead in small sizes. Most consumer electronics use Torx screws specifically to discourage consumer disassembly — getting through them is itself satisfying.
- Plastic pry tools ($5-10): Open cases without scratching or damaging
- Tweezers ($3-8): Handle small components safely
- Magnifying glass or loupe ($5-15): See microscopic details on circuit boards
The act of finding and removing the correct screws — which are often hidden under stickers, rubber feet, or decorative covers — is itself an exercise in systematic investigation.
FAQ
Won’t my child just destroy things rather than learn?
Destruction and learning aren’t mutually exclusive here. A child who has smashed a circuit board to extract the transformer has learned that the transformer exists, is physically separate from other components, and is heavy (iron core). That’s three concrete facts about electronics that no textbook delivers as effectively. Guide the investigation with questions: “What do you think this does? Why is this component bigger than that one?”
Where do I get things to take apart?
Thrift stores are the best source — $1-5 broken electronics are common. Electronic waste recycling events often have discard piles you can take from. Goodwill electronics sections frequently have broken items. Never buy new things to disassemble; the whole point is working with things that have no other use.
Should I explain what things are before or after disassembly?
After. The sequence that produces the most learning: disassemble → observe → “what do you think this does?” → explore together → explain. Explaining first deprives children of the discovery experience. Letting them form hypotheses first gives the explanation something to correct or confirm.
My child found something they didn’t expect. How should I handle it?
“I don’t know — let’s find out together” is the correct response to discovering something neither of you understands. Looking up component markings, circuit functions, or mechanical mechanisms together is a legitimate research skill. The parent who admits uncertainty and models investigation is teaching more than the parent who always knows the answer.
About the author
Ricky Flores is the founder of HiWave Makers and an electrical engineer with 15+ years of experience building consumer technology at Apple, Samsung, and Texas Instruments. He writes about how kids learn to build, think, and create in a tech-saturated world. Read more at hiwavemakers.com.
Sources
- Blikstein, P. (2021). Gears of our childhood: Constructionist toolkits, robotics, and computation in the classroom. Proceedings of IDC, 6(1), 78-82.
- Papert, S. (2020). Mindstorms: Children, computers, and powerful ideas. Basic Books.
- Dougherty, D. (2020). The maker movement. Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization, 7(3), 11-14.
- Honey, M., & Kanter, D. E. (Eds.). (2021). Design, make, play. Routledge.
- National Academy of Engineering. (2022). Engineering in K-12 education. NAE Publications.
