Information for Edgerton Center Molecule Sets

Welcome - we are so happy you want to use our Molecule Sets!  However, we are sorry to say since the Edgerton Center can no longer purchase LEGO® bricks in bulk, we aren’t able sell Molecule Sets anymore.

How to make the sets/kits yourself:

1. We have made the mats and worksheets available for download for free from our website.

2. You can purchase the following list of bricks yourself from LEGO.com or bricklink.com. (We have found bricklink.com to be a good source of bricks.) Some teachers have also asked parents for donations of LEGO bricks.    

3. Each module requires different numbers of the LEGO bricks, so you don't need obtain all of the bricks, if the bricks are too difficult to find or too expensive. Each lesson page lists the bricks required for that lesson: Chemical Reactions, Photosynthesis, Understanding Air, and Understanding Oceans.

4. The colors selected below are the standard CPK chemistry colors for the elements. The 2x4 or 1x2 on the bricks listed below indicates the stud pattern (the bumps on the top of the bricks).

5. We placed our bricks in clear plastic boxes to make the kits. If you wish to purchase plastic boxes, we use Plano 2-3600-01 with adjustable dividers, 11"L x 7-1/4"W x 1-3/4"H. You can buy these directly from the Plano company, or from other suppliers like Grainger, Amazon, or Zoro.

6. We use Avery TrueBlock Laser Shipping Labels, 2" x 4", White (5263) for the inner kit labels and outer kit labels.

7. You can download the Molecule Set Contents List to keep track of the kits and mats.

Each Molecule kit (shared by two students in class) contains the following LEGO bricks:

  • 4 orange 2x4*
  • 4 grey 2x4*
  • 4 brown 2x4
  • 8 pink 2x4
  • 8 yellow 2x4
  • 8 light green 2x4
  • 8 green 2x4
  • 12 black 2x4
  • 32 blue 2x4
  • 36 red 2x4
  • 24 white 1x2
  • 4 grey connector pegs*

*NOTE: The grey and orange LEGO bricks and the grey connector pegs are not used often. We recommend making a separate Teacher Box to keep all these pieces.

Please let us know if you have any other questions! We’d be happy to help you.

 

Guidelines for Use:

These materials are copyrighted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. STEM Enrichment Modules are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

You are free to copy and distribute our materials to teachers and students, provided that you acknowledge the source and retain any copyright statements on the materials.

Help others to find us by citing the MIT Edgerton Center website where much of the curriculum materials are available for download.

These materials can be adapted by individual teachers for their classroom, but the alterations to the MIT Edgerton Center materials cannot be redistributed beyond your school or host organization. 

Use of the MIT name:

In your advertising materials, you may say that your program uses curriculum developed by the MIT Edgerton Center, and where appropriate, provide a link to our home page. You may not describe your program as a partnership or collaboration with MIT or the MIT Edgerton Center.

We value feedback and suggestions for improvement. Please forward them to us at edgerton-k12-info@mit.edu. As you extend the curriculum, we would like to benefit from your creativity by adding your materials to ours, with appropriate attribution, and then making the expanded materials available to others.