Fill out the form below to be receive announcements about when and how you can apply.

Get notified when applications are available

About Kid Spark Education

Help your preK-5 students build critical 21st century skills in a fun and easy way

Kid Spark Education is a national nonprofit headquartered in San Diego that empowers elementary schools to bring hands-on, collaborative STEM education to their students without the need for specialized STEM facilities or teachers. Through the combination of a research-based curriculum, hands-on teacher training, and reusable engineering materials, educators learn how to help their students establish STEM identity (seeing one’s self as capable of learning science, technology, engineering, and math) and experience technology fluency (confidence to creatively author with technology to solve problems). The Kid Spark program is designed to be self-sustaining after the initial implementation, with no annual participation fees.

The Kid Spark Elementary Program impacts students and teachers in the following ways:

  • Elementary-school-aged children, especially girls, report a dramatic increase in how much they like or love engineering after they go through a Kid Spark program.
  • Teachers using Kid Spark programs report their students substantially increase their understanding of STEM concepts, and show increases in curiosity and creativity.
  • Teachers report significant increases in their own comfort with teaching STEM, including physics and engineering concepts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2018 Website Icons-45

Kid Spark
Education

=

2018 Website Icons-45

Comprehensive
Curriculum

+

2018 Website Icons-52

Professional
Learning

+

2018 Website Icons-50

Mobile STEM
Labs

“I’m in my second year of teaching engineering concepts with Kid Spark to kindergartners. I am amazed at how easily the students learn and start applying math, science and engineering concepts with Kid Spark. Since the concepts are taught in the context of designing, building and improving various types of structures, students are motivated to apply these concepts immediately in order to improve their creations. Everyone is engaged and everyone improves his/her knowledge about designing strong and useful structures.”

-Lisa Schifrin
Teacher at Chollas Mead Elementary School, San Diego, CA

Kid Spark STEM Elementary Program Curriculum

The elementary program covers the first two phases of our preK-8th grade curriculum. As your students progress through the STEM lessons, they engage in key engineering practices that include gathering information, explaining how things work, problem-solving, and critical thinking.

 

PHASE 1

Foundational Fluencies

Educators mentor students to develop foundational capacities prerequisite to all STEM learning, like spatial reasoning, problem-solving, and symbolization. While many students learn these fluencies at home, this phase helps fill in critical gaps that may exist, especially for underserved students.

 

Foundational Fluencies

Units of Instruction

  • It's All About the Blocks
  • I Am an Engineer
  • Is it Strong?
  • Does it Move?

PHASE 2

STEM Fundamentals

Students begin exploring important STEM topics such as applied mathematics, mechanical engineering, and robotics. Students focus on intuitive STEM concepts like how to make things strong and how to make things move. As a result, kids gain confidence in their ability to use technology to design solutions to problems. 

STEM Fundamentals

Units of Instruction

  • Engineering Basics
  • Mechanisms & Movement
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Robotics - 101
  • Robotics - Exploring Sensors
View Elementary Curriculum

Kid Spark STEM programs teach the practices and cross-cutting concepts used for all scientific learning as prescribed in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

science-standards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We'll give you what you need to be successful

Schools that participate in the Kid Spark grant program will receive:
  • Up to 12 Foundational Fluencies  and 12 Engineering Pathways  STEM labs to serve up to 24 students at any one time
  • 24/7 access to Kid Spark’s online curriculum and professional learning library
  •  Support from the Kid Spark staff as needed

180919_KS-Shot-4_13v2-Final (Original)

Eligibility Requirements:

  • Be a publicly funded elementary, preschool, or Head Start program. (Please note that priority will be given to schools serving underserved students.)
  • Be located in the United States
  • Be able to commit dedicated curriculum time to teach an 8 week unit of instruction (apx 30-60 minutes per week per grade level).

Preference is given to schools receiving Title 1 funds but all schools are strongly encouraged to apply.

Still have questions? Please email contact@kidsparkeducation.org

Get notified when applications are available

Copyright © 2019 Kid Spark Education   |   Kid Spark Education is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization Tax I.D. #47-3301494