It's not big news that learning-by-doing is good in the sciences but, as interestingly, opportunities to find out what it means to be a scientist/technologist/engineer/mathematician are even more important to young learners...

"Teens listed activities such as field trips to places where they can learn about STEM (66 percent) and access to places outside the classroom where they can build things and conduct experiments (53 percent) as the best ways to get them interested in these subjects. Highlighting the need for non-traditional learning regardless of setting, two-thirds of teens chose hands-on individual projects and hands-on group projects as the types of classroom-based educational methods they enjoy most."