Kids learn engineering through Legos

By: NOELLE IBRAHIM - Staff Writer | Friday, July 13, 2007 10:12 PM PDT ∞

SAN MARCOS ---- While engineering concepts such as torque, gravity and friction might cause even some adults to scratch their heads, North County youngsters have been getting a crash course in the subjects at Cal State San Marcos ---- with the help of 100,000 Lego parts.

Eighteen 5- to 11-year-olds used colorful Lego beams, gears, axles and battery packs to create everything from cars to catapults this week during an introductory class on engineering offered through the university's office of Extended Studies.

"I like to make things," said 5-year-old Daniel Paul, as he tinkered with a motor on his monorail design Friday. "It's so cool."

The five-day class was one of eight Creative Youth Camps the university is offering this summer.

"We're trying to capture some unique academic ways of entertaining kids for the summer," said Anna DuBois, program coordinator for Extended Studies. "By combining something fun like Legos with something academic like engineering, we're addressing different needs than traditional camps."

In addition to reaching out to the community, the camps are meant to encourage children to start thinking about college early, DuBois said.

"By giving kids exposure to the university, it makes it not such an intimidating place," she said. "We're just getting the word out there to students and parents that there's a great educational institution in their own backyard."

Throughout the week, instructors from Play-Well TEKnologies, which teaches engineering concepts to kids, taught children about gravity, belts and pulleys, speed and torque by first demonstrating the concepts using Legos and then turning the kids loose to put the concepts into action by constructing bridges, gondolas and remote control cars on their own.

"I can sit here and teach them a lesson with a blackboard, but then they're in school," said camp instructor Darren Bleier, who has a background in optical engineering. "Legos are such a great medium because there are so many things you can do with them."

Bleier said the goal of the camp is to show children that engineering is a viable career choice and to expose them to concepts they might not be getting in school. The camp also teaches them how to solve problems, he said.

"Most kids inherently love building things, love to create," he said. "We want to show them you can spend your entire life building. If you ask kids at this age what they want to be when they grow up, it's really what they've been exposed to."

On Friday, the kids built their own remote-contolled monorail designs and pitted them against one another in battles to see whose design could knock the other off a track.

After 11-year-old A.J. Ramos' monorail lost its first few battles, he modified it to include a claw that would scoop up his competitors.

"My first idea wasn't working as well as I thought," he said, triumphing a few minutes later. "I'm a big fan of Legos, and since my dad is an engineer, I'm thinking about becoming an engineer, too."

An advanced class on engineering, called the Junkyard Challenge, will begin on Monday. During that week, children will build bridges, trucks, elevators and other motorized machines. The university is also offering camps on video game design, computer graphics, cartooning and Web site animation in the weeks following.

For information or to sign up, visit www.csusm-es.org or call (800) 500-9377.

Contact staff writer Noelle Ibrahim at (760) 761-4404 or nibrahim@nctimes.com.

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