(815) 965-3433
DONATE

SPARK Boxes

Under the commitment to sharing resources with local educators and in an effort to support science curriculum throughout local schools, Burpee Museum is excited to announce a new set of free resources: SPARK Boxes! These boxes are STEM-themed kits that are designed to prompt students to ask and seek answers to questions about the natural world.

Each kit contains unique hands-on materials, such as animal bones, skulls, furs, taxidermy specimens, fossils, minerals, or rocks, as well as grade-appropriate reading excerpts and access to web-based videos or presentations.

Below is the list of SPARK Boxes that are available for check-out. Each box is aligned with the NGSS curriculum and designated to elementary and middle to high school curriculum levels.

Cost:

  • General Public: $10.00 Rental Fee
  • Burpee Educator/Homeschool Members: Free!

This project was completed thanks to a Community Foundation of Northern Illinois grant.

CHECK OUT A SPARK BOX
TEACHER BOX CHECK OUT CALENDAR
SPARK BOXES
Science of Color

What is color, how do we see it, and why do we need it in our lives? Let’s take a LOOK at our eyes and the colors they allow us to see. Colors can be clues that help us understand the world around us. Learn how our brains process color and why color vision is so important to us and other animals.

NGSS Standards:

  • 4-LS1-2 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
  • MS-LS1-8 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
  • MS-LS4-2 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
Landscape Ecology

Earth has a wide variety of unique, fascinating ecosystems, some of which can be found right here in Illinois. When we look at part of the Earth from above, we see that it is made of a patchwork of different landforms, ecosystems, cities, and farms. Investigate how organisms adapt to their environment and move through the landscape mosaic and how human activity impacts life at the landscape level. Play the Ecology Crossing game!

NGSS Standards:

Elementary

  • 3-LS2-1 & 2-LS2-2 Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
  • 3-LS2-3 Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems: Environmental Impacts on Organisms
  • 2-LS4-1 & 3-LS2-4 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

Middle-High School

  • MS-LS2-1 & LS2-4 Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems
  • MS-LS1-4 Growth, Development, and Reproduction of Organisms
  • MS-LS2-1, LS2-2, LS2-4, & LS2-5 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
  • MS-LS2-2 & LS2-5 Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
Proof is in the Tooth

What are teeth? Why are they important, why do they come in so many different shapes, and why do humans have to go to the dentist and other animals don’t? Discover why teeth are so incredible!

NGSS Standards:

  • LS4-1 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
  • LS1-1 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
Power of Flight

Learn about the many creatures that have evolved the power of flight. Explore the four different groups of animals that have developed this ability and how it has forever changed the course of life on Earth.

NGSS Standards:

  • LS4-1 & LS4-2 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
  • LS1-1 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
  • PS2-1 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
Habitats

Explore the roles, relationships, and special adaptations that allow living things to survive and flourish in a specific habitat. Activities include identifying predators or prey by looking at skulls, creating their own food chain or trophic pyramid while learning how energy is transferred in a habitat, and comparing different body coverings (e.g., how is the hair that covers a deer different from that of a zebra?).

NGSS Standards:

Elementary

  • 1-LS1-1 Structure, Function, and Information Processing
  • 2-LS2-1 Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
  • 2-LS4-1 & 3-LS4-4 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
  • MS-LS2-3 & 5-LS2-3 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

Middle-High School

  • MS-LS2-2, LS2-3, & LS2-4 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics-Predict Patterns
  • MS-LS2-3 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics-Cycling of Matter
  • MS-LS2-4 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics-Changes in Populations
  • MS-LS3-1 Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits-Mutations
  • MS-LS4-4 Biological Evolution: Unity & Diversity-Genetic Variations and Survival
  • MS-LS4-6 Biological Evolution: Unity & Diversity-Trait Variations Supported by Math
TRANSLATE »