Welcome to The National STEM Guitar Project
The National STEM Guitar Project, in partnership with NSF Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Centers with funding provided through a grant from The National Science Foundation (#1700531, #1304405, & #0903336), hosts innovative Guitar Building Institutes throughout the US. Five-day institutes, combined with additional instructional activities comprising 80 hours, provide middle, high school, and postsecondary faculty training on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) applications as they relate to the guitar. The institutes present and teach participants hands-on, applied learning techniques to help engage students and spark excitement for learning STEM subject matter.
STEM Guitar Online Teaching Resources
Click here to access STEM Guitar online teaching resources.
Summer 2024 STEM Guitar Instructional events
Contact us about setting up a custom in-service educational training event or a unique corporate team building event.
The number of participants and scope of the event can be specifically customized for your group.
Schools that are Implementing STEM Guitar Building Programs
Click here to see all previous institute locations!
12 Core STEM Activities Students Complete Through Building a Guitar
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Want to sponsor a STEM Guitar workshop? Please complete our STEM Guitar workshop sponsorship application.
The goal and objective of the STEM Guitar Building Institutes is to showcase a new way to present learning for students with applied methods.
The focus areas of the STEM Guitar institutes include electric guitar, CNC guitar fabrication, and acoustic guitar.
Across the United States, there are increasing concerns from businesses about the supply of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics trained workers. Although science and math test scores in the US are among the lowest around the world, the US educational system is in the process of revitalizing the “hands on” learning techniques as a way to enhance the participation and success of students. Our project meets the needs of applied learning with the flexibility of being modular in the classroom.
Electric Guitar:
STEM educators will take part in an intense five-day electric guitar design/build institue. Each faculty member will build his/her own custom electric guitar and will engage in student centered learning activities that relate the guitar design to specific math, science and engineering topics. Participants leave this weeklong experience with their custom-made guitars, curriculum modules with short term assessments that can be immediately integrated into the faculty team school curriculum.
CNC Guitar:
STEM educators take part in a five-day institute focused on how to manufacture guitar parts for their classroom or for the nationwide network of schools that are implementing the project. Modularized curriculum with assessments will cover the content provided as part of the institute. The primary focus of the institute will be the application of CNC technology as it relates to manufacturing guitar components. The participants leave this institute with the modularized curriculum and a custom guitar body they have designed and fabricated. The additional parts necessary to complete the guitar are also provided.
Acoustic Guitar:
STEM educators take part in a five-day institute focused acoustic construction and related curriculum. The pathway curriculum is modularized and focused on acoustic guitar tasks. Participants will depart the weeklong experience with a complete acoustic guitar, related curriculum, and assessment tools.
Through the NSF grant, educators who applied and are selected receive free tuition and stipend to participate in the 5-day Guitar Building Institutes.
During the NSF grant cycles, the STEM Guitar Project has exceeded initial estimates of faculty impacted by recruiting over 450 STEM educators, with an additional 500 faculty exposed via national education conferences. Thus far, this effort is impacting over 20,000 students nationally over the 10 years because of faculty members adopting or adapting the curriculum developed through the project.