Does the name Nathan Seidles ring a bell? He’s the young entrepreneur who started SparkFun Electronics from his bedroom while he was in college. That was nine years ago

In interviewing Nathan, he noted the company’s new education Web site, Learn.SparkFun.com

Its aim is to help build and support a community of educators, newbies, kids, and everyone in between looking to get started in DIY (do-it-yourself) electronics, but who don’t know where or how to begin.

The site hosts a plethora of free curriculum, tutorials, how-to guides, information and more.

Nathan also mentioned that the SparkFun education team would be at the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, DC, in April as part of an East Coast tour.

Participants learned how to solder by putting together a functioning SparkFun Simon memory game, the company’s Lectro Candle Kit (an LED-based “candle” that cycles through the colors of the rainbow), or the Weevil Eye Kit (a DIY night-light and e-textiles kit that responds to how dark the room is). The kits were being soldered by the kids under parental and SparkFun engineer supervision.

One of the not-so-obvious side benefits of the miniaturization of electronics is that folks far removed from the realm of electronic engineering become comfortable with small electronic devices and think, “Wouldn’t it be neat if I had a [gizmo] that did…?”