Editing Heathkit (section)

==Heathkits as education==
[[File:Io12u.jpg|thumb|upright|Heathkit IO12U oscilloscope built in 1967]]
No knowledge of electronics was needed to assemble a Heathkit. The assembly process itself did not teach much about electronics, but provided a great deal of what could have been called basic "electronics literacy", such as the ability to identify tube pin numbers or to read a [[Electronic color code|resistor color code]].  Many hobbyists began by assembling Heathkits, became familiar with the appearance of components like [[capacitor]]s, [[transformer]]s, resistors, and tubes, and were motivated to understand just what these components actually did. For those builders who had a deeper knowledge of electronics (or for those who wanted to be able to troubleshoot/repair the product in the future), the assembly manuals usually included a detailed "Theory of Operation" chapter, which explained the functioning of the kit's circuitry, section by section.

Heath developed a business relationship with electronics correspondence schools (e.g., [[National Radio Institute|NRI]] and [[Bell & Howell]]), and supplied electronic kits to be assembled as part of their courses, with the schools basing their texts and lessons around the kits. In the 1960s, Heathkit marketed a line of its electronic instruments which had been modified for use in teaching physics at the high school ([[Physical Science Study Committee]], PSSC) and college levels ([[Berkeley Physics Course]]).<ref name="BrueschkeMack"/>{{rp|149}}

Heathkits could teach deeper lessons. "The kits taught [[Steve Jobs]] that products were manifestations of human ingenuity, not magical objects dropped from the sky", writes a business author, who goes on to quote Jobs as saying "It gave a tremendous level of self-confidence, that through exploration and learning one could understand seemingly very complex things in one's environment."<ref>{{cite book |title=Inside Steve's Brain|author=Leander Kahney |publisher=Portfolio|year=2008 |isbn=978-1-59184-198-2 |url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/insidestevesbrai0000kahn}}, p. 196. Leander cites an oral history audio recording by the Smithsonian Institution as his source for the quotation.</ref>