STEM products are very popular in classrooms today. Pitsco Education at https://www.pitsco.com/. Has some amazing products that are perfect for homeschooling families. We were given the opportunity to use the Middle School STEM Creator Pack designed for students in grades 6-8. and it can be found here https://www.pitsco.com/STEM-Creator-Pack at the time of this post the creator pack was on sale for $49.95.This kit is designed for 1 student and comes with several activities or projects.
Projects included :
Catapults
Balloon cars
Da Vinci bridges
Friction climbers
Inventions
What you get in the box:
- Project books (1 book per hands-on project)
- History of Pitsco Mad Lib
- “I Can Make Neat Stuff” sticker
- Laser-cut building elements
- Balloon Car templates
- GT-FX wheels
- Transparent tape
- Masking tape
- Aluminum axles
- Modeling clay (1 stick)
- Brass washers
- Straws
- Balloons
- Craft sticks
- Structures glue
- Rubber bands
- Plastic spools
- Cardboard wheels
- Chipboard
- Basswood rectangle
- Kite string
Some of the topics covered in this kit are:
Science: acceleration, modeling, force and motion, friction, Newton's third law. Technology: Art tools and techniques, cutting and folding, design processes, troubleshooting, drawings and diagrams. Math: Logic, 2 and 3-D shapes, logical reasoning, patterns, prediction, calculating speed, measurements, data collection and analysis. Engineering: Cause and effect, problem-solving, prototyping, safety, testing and evaluating solution, engineering design.
This kit came in and the girls were excited for a some summer projects. The website says this kit is designed for 1 student but the girls are in different grades within the target grades and I though it would be good to see how it worked each grade. They chose there projects based on the picture that was on the front of each bag. Neither read the description of the enclosed project. One selected the Catapults and Balloon cars kits and the other did the Da Vinci bridges, Friction climbers and inventions.
Over all the kits were very easy for both grade levels to follow with out much assistance from me. They quickly pulled out the Project Books and read through them for the first project selections. they located all the items they would need for the project. I loved that all the items they needed were included in the bags. We did find a couple items like string that needed to be used in more than one project kit. Each project book gives the student some easy to follow directions on how to build or what to do for the project. Once they read through the Project Book they got started working on the projects. We ran into a small issue on the catapult. It ask her to use a small rubber grommet to hold a little aluminum peg in as a pivot point for the arm of the catapult. This little rubber grommet would not stay on. Every time she would pivot the arm it would pop off. Me being the mechanic I am substituted the metal peg and rubber grommet for a small plastic body clip used to hold on fenders on modern cars. We also tried a small metal safety pin that we use on trailer hitches but it was a bit to long and we went back to the body clip. After that modification it worked great. So be aware you might need to improvise a little on this project. The balloon car went together with out incident as they had built something similar a couple of years back and already had an idea of what to do. We discovered the cat likes to chase them when it races across the floor.
Once the projects are built they will find some activities in the project book. These activities get them thinking how the item works. They also help get them thinking about how they can improve what they have just built. Some of the activities involved doing things like testing the catapult for accuracy and distance giving them a chart to track the results. For the DA Vinci bridge it has the student test different numbers of craft sticks with the amount of weight held and includes things like span distance and height.
Pitsco Education is hosting a give away for this very kit that my family has just reviewed. To enter all you need to do is follow this link http://www.pitsco.com/Creator-Pack-Giveaway. Fill out a little information like name and email and you are in for a chance to win this fun education kit.
Overall this kit is a great way to get in some extra learning in a fun hands on way. We had fun with all the projects included in the kit and I think it fits a price range that works for many homeschool families. You can click the link below and see some of the other kits that the Homeschool Review Crew has tested out with there families.
Over all the kits were very easy for both grade levels to follow with out much assistance from me. They quickly pulled out the Project Books and read through them for the first project selections. they located all the items they would need for the project. I loved that all the items they needed were included in the bags. We did find a couple items like string that needed to be used in more than one project kit. Each project book gives the student some easy to follow directions on how to build or what to do for the project. Once they read through the Project Book they got started working on the projects. We ran into a small issue on the catapult. It ask her to use a small rubber grommet to hold a little aluminum peg in as a pivot point for the arm of the catapult. This little rubber grommet would not stay on. Every time she would pivot the arm it would pop off. Me being the mechanic I am substituted the metal peg and rubber grommet for a small plastic body clip used to hold on fenders on modern cars. We also tried a small metal safety pin that we use on trailer hitches but it was a bit to long and we went back to the body clip. After that modification it worked great. So be aware you might need to improvise a little on this project. The balloon car went together with out incident as they had built something similar a couple of years back and already had an idea of what to do. We discovered the cat likes to chase them when it races across the floor.
Once the projects are built they will find some activities in the project book. These activities get them thinking how the item works. They also help get them thinking about how they can improve what they have just built. Some of the activities involved doing things like testing the catapult for accuracy and distance giving them a chart to track the results. For the DA Vinci bridge it has the student test different numbers of craft sticks with the amount of weight held and includes things like span distance and height.
Pitsco Education is hosting a give away for this very kit that my family has just reviewed. To enter all you need to do is follow this link http://www.pitsco.com/Creator-Pack-Giveaway. Fill out a little information like name and email and you are in for a chance to win this fun education kit.
Overall this kit is a great way to get in some extra learning in a fun hands on way. We had fun with all the projects included in the kit and I think it fits a price range that works for many homeschool families. You can click the link below and see some of the other kits that the Homeschool Review Crew has tested out with there families.
No comments:
Post a Comment