Our weekly Young Engineers club has been using Lego Duplo Simple Machines kits this past fall. Our first through third grade children, 36 one day and 41 the other day, have been working through the 8 different projects that are included within the self-contained box of bricks. With gears, wheels, bricks, sticks, and even two figures, it seems like there would be many more creative possibilities available within the provided materials. The boxes include diagrams of how to construct the different items like a boat, a pinwheel, a car, and the other projects. The teacher’s guide that comes with bulk purchase of the kits includes an additional four projects, but there aren’t diagrams for those. As fascinating as the kits themselves are, the truly interesting part of this program is how the children interact with the kits.
We have about half to two-thirds of each session being boys. The concept of working in pairs to create a Lego object sometimes is a challenge. If it’s two boys in a pair, they can sometimes try to do the same thing at the same time. Taking turns does not seem to be a possibility. Fortunately no one has hit the other one when they couldn’t take turns. We have had at least one good cry from a young man who just couldn’t manage to share. If it’s two girls working together, one of two things happens. The first option is a very quiet, industrious, non-attention getting, collaborative effort put into creating the weekly project. The second option is two young ladies giving puppy dog eyes to passing adults because they don’t even know where to start on the Lego project. Even better, they distract everyone else around them because they aren’t working on their project as they should! Some girls in this program had never played with or used Legos of any kind before Young Engineers.
To be fair, both genders have had real challenges trying to replicate Lego objects from the diagrams provided in the box. The two to three major steps that are visually outlined on the project cards frequently confound these children. I am a bit worried about the lack of visual skills these children seem to display. However, the adults who have made the projects and “tested” the Legos seems to do the projects quickly. I think the moral of this is that the stated 5+ age range on the container may be wishful thinking depending on the overall abilities of the group.
I think my favorite thing about using these Lego kits with the children has been how the “problem kids” have behaved. Being warned ahead of time that certain young boys, of course, were going to be a problem in this group, that couldn’t be further from the truth. These gentleman throw themselves into each project and frequently turn out to be the helpers to the rest of the group who take longer to complete the projects. I have seen huge smiles and almost literally puffed out chests from these boys as they are identified as the first successful finishers of the day’s project. I know from their teachers these are just about the only successes mildly related to school that most of these gentlemen have ever had.
What have I learned using the Lego Duplo Simple Machine kits? I love that everything is self-contained, and there are diagrams to create each project. I also can’t keep myself from smiling about the children who rush into Young Engineers, and can’t wait to get started on the next project. This is definitely a library STEM activity I see the benefits from immediately.
Melanie A. Lyttle is a member of the ALSC Children’s & Technology Committee. She is Head of Public Services at Madison Public Library in Madison, OH. http://www.madison-library.info