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LIFT Providing STEM Kits to Detroit Students During School Closures

COVID-19, Lightweight Materials

LIFT, the Detroit-based national manufacturing innovation institute, announced today that it is distributing kits to local students to keep them learning and engaged in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) activities as schools remain closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The kits, made available with the support of the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, are being sent to students who were actively learning at the LIFT Learning Lab during the 2019-20 school year from UPrep Science & Math High School, Detroit Edison Public Schools Academy (DEPSA) and Western International High School.

Teachers from the three schools are able to select from three available kits for their students:

  • Arduino Starter Kit: Students will learn the basics of Arduino including basic electronics, electronic circuits, and software. They will also build projects on a breadboard to connect to an Arduino.
  • Paper Circuit Starter Kit: Students will learn about electricity creating simple, series, and parallel circuits and then building models of traffic lights, electrical grids, doorbells, etc. while learning about electricity.
  • Newton’s Laws Kit: Students will learn about Newton’s laws of motion.  By building different models including a catapult, a collision car, balloon powered plan, and others, students will study the effects of kinetic and potential energy, forces, motion, acceleration, momentum, and the properties of energy.