I used 555s at school whilst learning electronics.. never used them since (never needed to) PIC microcontrollers are just as cheap and you can do MUCH more with them. You don't even need an external oscillator for them, they have 'em built in. CPLDs (cut down FPGAs) are almost as cheap, and probably more fun to use than PICs, although you can't do quite as much with them while you can do a lot with 555s, in the real world they're rarely used (in new designs), and teaching kids something they're never likely to use should they ever take up electronics is something I see as making little sense..

download the freeby graphical spice simulator from here: http://www.simetrix.co.uk/ I use this at home and I use the licensed version professionally at work. Its pretty easy to use and its great for teaching them fundamentals of electronics. While its no substitute for building circuits in hardware, its a great tool professionally for trying out circuits before prototyping and then optimising them afterwards. In a school environment, this would be a good way of teaching them some basics of current, voltage, frequency etc etc, without spending lots of money on things like oscilloscopes, spectrum analysers etc. That said, being able to drive a scope is a useful skill in itself.. just wish the manufacturers would get together and standardise the controls! :-p

my company offer £1000 per patent granted great as long as you can persuade the incumbant conversative engineer community to (a) understand what you're proposing (b) understand the benefits (c) adopt in their next products (d) be willing to sell your soul politically within the company for the next couple of years to even get the relevant people to consider the idea Any ideas for getting around that company culture? :-)