Our Program
SparkShop is a hands-on program where 4th and 5th graders explore engineering in their classrooms. Throughout the school year, teachers at our partner schools receive ready-to-run, interdisciplinary lessons and materials that equip students to practice a variety of the fields within engineering, such as mechanical, environmental, biomedical, and more! We build awareness, interest, and confidence in the STEM fields with the unique way that we present engineering content.
Every unit contains:
ENGINEERING DESIGN LESSONS
Hands-on lessons where students apply the design process (empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test) to engineering projects.
HUMANITIES CONNECTIONS
Interdisciplinary lessons that link technical topics to art, music, reading, writing, history, P.E., and more!
Our program is free to elementary schools in the Chicago area serving students underrepresented in the STEM fields based on race, gender, and socioeconomic status.
“My students were so inspired to participate in SparkShop this year. The students gained a lot of knowledge and many of the students are considering becoming engineers and it is all due to the Spark Shop program.”
“The best part [about SparkShop] for me was that the planning and alignment to the science standards were already done. This took away the stress of trying to design curriculum and allowed me to focus solely on implementation.”
