K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, UG, G

The LDAPS Web site is an interactive, instructional, living document designed and written by teachers, elementary school students, college students, and university faculty. At the site, you can find out why a plane flies, what lift and drag are, learn how to build your own wind tunnel, sample curriculum ideas, and find creative ways teachers have brought engineering into their classrooms. You can also download software drivers for the LEGOs and link to a number of other educational sites.

The real goal of the people participating in this site is to help teachers integrate science into all aspects of their curricula, and to have a common thread throughout elementary science education. Teachers do this through teaching engineering as a motivator for learning math and science. The science and math may differ, but the engineering approach is the same for all years. For instance, one kindergarten teacher had the students design and build a town. They read books, drew maps, discussed what belongs in a town, and built it all with LEGO blocks, cardboard, and crayons. The end result was a town with three school buses (each stopping at a different set of houses), all computer controlled. One classroom built a space station, another built scenes from Charlotte’s Web, and another group designed turkey traps. In each case, the kids were drawn in by the creative aspects of the design and construction, and were interested in the math and science since they directly affected the creation. As a result, kindergartners have argued with each other about the difficulties of frictional forces, the need for gears, and even written their own computer programs to control the LEGO creations.

A lot of LEGOs

Cardboard and scissors

A desktop computer (optional - if you want the computer to control the LEGO creations)

All information is on the Web site: http://ldaps.arc.nasa.gov/

Phone: (617) 627-3013

FAX: (617) 627 3058