STEM+M Kits

The American Precision Museum, in collaboration with SparkShop, has developed a series of free kits that give 4th to 6th-grade students a hands-on introduction to Manufacturing, STEM, and Design.

Our currently available kits are:
Experimenting with Energy
Achieving Repeatability
Measure the World

These lessons expose students to dynamic, engaging challenges that encourage critical thinking and translate to real-world problem-solving. Each curriculum begins with a brief history of local manufacturing before guiding students through small, achievable challenges reinforcing the kit’s central theme, such as building a catapult, designing tessellations, or constructing a water wheel.

The kits emphasize the importance of student innovation and creativity by encouraging participants to improve their constructions and design some of their own. The curricula also encourage students to draw their own conclusions about the consequences of the activities. For example, the Achieving Repeatability kit asks participants to carefully consider the “best” way to draw a circle after they’ve assembled and tested six different methods. Finally, all the lessons conclude by tying the ideas introduced in the unit to real-world careers.

The kits and their accompanying curricula are designed to be easily adaptable to remote, in-person, and hybrid teaching environments, and they’re aligned with CCSS ELA Literacy and NGSS Physical Sciences. Because each lesson is divided into a series of approachable segments, the time required for each box is extremely flexible; curricula can be completed all at once or over the course of several sessions. All of the kits are completely free, thanks to generous grants.

Request a kit:

Educators should fill out this form to sign up for free kits for their classrooms. We ask that you and your students complete the 5-minute survey after teaching the kit. Your feedback is essential in developing new kits and demonstrating to our funders the impact of the kits. 

If you have any questions, please send an email to mholleran@americanprecision.org.

Experimenting with Energy Kit

Whats Included?

• A teacher guide that provides an overview of each unit, Cross-Content standards, and a sample agenda.
• Seven interdisciplinary units centered around repeatability.
• One kit per student with all the physical materials necessary for the lesson.
• Two student surveys, to be taken before and after the activity, and one teacher survey to help us improve the program in the future.
• Free strategy meetings, custom curriculum materials for your class, and teaching assistance upon request.

Educators, access your kit materials here.

Achieving Repeatability Kit

What’s Included?

• A teacher guide that provides an overview of each unit, Cross-Content standards, and a sample agenda.
• Seven interdisciplinary units centered around repeatability.
• One kit per student with all the physical materials necessary for the lesson.
• Two student surveys, to be taken before and after the activity, and one teacher survey to help us improve the program in the future.
• Free strategy meetings, custom curriculum materials for your class, and teaching assistance upon request.
  

  Topic	Subject
  Repeatability in Shoe-making	History
  Pen Deconstruction	STEM
  Tessellation Cookie Cutters	STEM
  Repeatable Catapult	STEM
  Bill of Materials	ELA
  Drawing Circles	Art
  Career Spotlight with Jim Stokes	Career

Educators, access your kit materials here.

Measure the World Kit

Whats Included?

• A teacher guide that provides an overview of each unit, Cross-Content standards, and a sample agenda.
• Seven interdisciplinary units centered around repeatability.
• One kit per student with all the physical materials necessary for the lesson.
• Two student surveys, to be taken before and after the activity, and one teacher survey to help us improve the program in the future.
• Free strategy meetings, custom curriculum materials for your class, and teaching assistance upon request.
  

  Topic	Subject
  Scale Drawings	Math
  Detecting Forgeries	Art
  Optical Comparator	STEM
  Measurement Tools	STEM
  Units	STEM
  Measuring Sound	Music
  Materials Engineer	Career

Educators, access your kit materials here.

Education Overview

The museum’s educational programming is built around three core pillars. We work to illuminate the history of industrialization, beginning with the birth of the American System in the historic walls of our building 197 years ago, examine the field of manufacturing today, and look towards the technologies poised to shape our future. Our programming is for absolutely everyone, of any ability from K to Grey. From demonstrations in our Innovation Station and hands-on workshops to monthly exhibits and virtual STEM lessons, we have always have something new going on.

We also run a grant-funded hands-on STEM program, where we send free kits and curriculum, covering STEM topics related to the museum, to 4th-6th grade classrooms within a 90-minute radius of the museum. This year, we have already committed 2000 kits to teachers in the region.

Reading Recommendations

We’ve found some great books that we think you’ll find helpful and interesting. Check them out below!