LDAPS
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At Tufts University, the Lego Data Acquisition and Prototyping System project–or LDAPS, for short–is dedicated to introducing engineering into K-14 education.
Engineering and the ways of thinking and knowing it encourages are seriously lacking in public education, according to LDAPS. Engineering is involved whether a student is taking apart an everyday object to figure out how it works or designing an experiment to test a hypothesis. Therefore, it's important to introduce engineering for its own merit and as a motivator for learning math and science.
By taking advantage of a child's tendency to build and create, LDAPS combines LEGO Dacta building blocks with engineering challenges into methodology as the project develops curricula and hardware and software extensions to enhance learning.
One of those projects is the LDAPS Web site, located online at http://ldaps.arc.nasa.gov
The LDAPS Web site is an interactive, instructional, living document designed and written by elementary school teachers, college students, and university faculty. At the site, students can find out why a plane flies, what lift and drag are, learn how to build their own wind tunnels, sample curriculum ideas, and find creative ways teachers have taken engineering into the classroom.
Visitors to the LDAPS Web site 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 the LDAPS site, according to its founders, is to help teachers integrate science into all aspects of their curricula and to have a common thread throughout elementary science education. Instructors accomplish this by 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 students design and build a town. The students 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 designed turkey traps. In each case, the kids were drawn in by the creative aspects of the design and construction and were interested in math and science. Information learned in these subjects 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.
Curator: Randolph Kim
Responsible NASA Official: Mark
Leon
Last Updated: 07/02/2002
