From Breadboard to Arduino: Teaching Electronics to 8-Year-Olds in Lagos

When an 8-year-old child connects an LED directly across a 9V battery without a current-limiting resistor in real life, a tiny pop happens, followed by a wisp of smoke and a dead diode. In a physical classroom, this can discourage learners. In iScratch Lab, they see the LED blink bright red, a playful "Wahala! Resistor missing!" alert appears, and they simply drag a 220Ω resistor into the line to watch it glow safely. Confidence is built through experimentation without fear of destroying equipment.