I just wonder where this educational impact column is coming from? Your opinion? ENquette?
5 pizza's can be very educative to learn about multiplication, fractions, circles, PI, vegetables, nutrician values, cooking, heat flow through different materials, evaporation, burning, chemical transformations, geography (where does the artichokes come from), taste combinations, Italy, Roman Empire, immigration (how Pizza's got over the world, no the Romans did not, or did they?), cultural differences, etc and there are people who will use an Arduino to create bad things (I will not provide examples of this 
I think your list is subjective at best and shows (partly) what people/parents what to hear. Saying that tech is positive on an tech forum is like asking a grizzly if it likes salmon, you know it does. If you want a realistic list, ask 500+ parents and ask the rationale! Better ask 500+ kids: Why do you think Pizza's are educative - "peperoni keeps me awake in class, Sir!"
Formost I think the real question (culture dependant!!) is: , what makes the kid enthousiast?, is it sport, tech, cooking, ... Money spend on something they are not interested in is a waste. That said sometimes you must "confront" a kid with new things to broaden their horizon, just to try, but mostly they know what they want.
And yes, I agree with Rugged Circuits, parents are sensitive to what their kids' teachers publish.
Hopes this helps,