Weekly STEM Activity
Kids and teens are invited and welcome to join Youth Services librarians every Tuesday after school for self-guided building and open play with our collection of LEGO kits and other hands-on tools in celebration of STEM-driven development! More structured events or contests will be announced throughout the year as the youth-led club develops and grows.
What is STEM? STEM Education, a term initiated by the National Science Foundation, is an educational approach that focuses on one or more of the four disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and math.
How are LEGOs a STEM activity?
LEGO blocks can teach skills like physics and creativity needed in structural engineering.
Concepts such as building to scale, loading constraints (static and dynamic) and bracing methods are directly applicable to real-world structural engineering.
LEGO experiments with designing around nature and understanding tension and compression can model real-life engineering challenges.
"Toying around and experimenting with Lego extends beyond childhood play time. In fact, these blocks and products present a hands-on opportunity to learn the basics of structural engineering, a field in which experts examine similar questions while crafting buildings, bridges, cars, dams, stadiums and other large structures." - Marianne Spoon, How Stuff Works