A box of Legos and K'NEX blocks can entertain children for hours on a rainy afternoon.

Using these same children's toys, students are busy assembling bridges in a college classroom. They select each piece with care because one more ounce may cause the bridge to collapse.

"I really understand a kid's frustration now," Brooke Cowles (sophomore- elementary education) said.

Engineering/Science Education 497F (Fundamentals of Science, Technology and Engineering Design), bridges the fields of engineering and education. By using Legos and K'NEX to build bridges, students learn how to think like engineers and teach science and engineering to children.

Although the class is geared toward students who are elementary education majors, other students may take it to fulfil their general science requirement in the general education core, said Akhlesh Lakhtakia, professor of engineering science and mechanics.

"Science education at the elementary school level in the United States is taught like in a primitive society — not the most industrialized nation in the world," he said. Children are curious but the people who are supposed to guide them are unprepared in science, he added.

To accomplish the primary goal of making future teachers comfortable and knowledgeable about science and engineering, the class is structured in a series of three modules or units.

"It involves solving problems in the physical sciences," said Vince Lunetta, professor of science education. After each unit, students are tested on the module's scientific concepts.

For the first module, small groups of students must design a bridge structure that is able to support a specified load for a specified distance. It must also be stable, relatively inexpensive and eye-catching. Using K'NEX to build the bridges helps future teachers feel at ease with science tools and can be used in the elementary school classroom.

"Teaching science is of the passive variety," Lakhtakia said. He cites taking students on a nature walk and being able to identify trees as an example of passive learning.

"It does not engage the student in hands-on activity," he said.

The active learning aspect of the class is exactly what intrigues students.

"So many classes are lectures. I like the class because it's hands-on," April Kearney (freshman-elementary education) said.

Although students are using Legos and K'NEX, two children's toys to build the bridge, the project involves scientific concepts.

"It's not like you are a 2-or 3-year-old playing with Legos. It's very challenging," Rich Schmidt (freshman-elementary education) said.

Six weeks into the semester, Schmidt has learned that using a triangular arrangement of blocks when building a bridge creates the most stable structure. Chris Johnson (freshman-secondary education) has learned how to make structures efficient and about compression and tension in bridges.

Michelle Hendershot (freshman-elementary education) said the use of computer software has been helpful in learning how to build a bridge.

The West Point Bridge Designer computer software aids students in constructing the bridges. They create a structure on the screen and work with virtual blocks before transferring their idea to a K'NEX structure.

"It is good introductory software," Erdat Cataloglu, a science education teaching assistant said.

The finished bridge must be 60 inches. After a group takes a digital photo of their construction, they must present their structure to the rest of the class and explain how their bridges are cost effective and structurally sound, Erdat said.

Learning how to think from a scientific prospective is a major aspect of this course. "I've found that students start to think like engineers about seven weeks into the course," Lakhtakia said.

Engineering is fundamental in an industrial society, he said. "Without engineering we might as well sit in caves and howl. Engineering makes us human," Lakhtakia added.

Lunetta and Lakhtakia were two of the faculty members in a team of people from the Colleges of Education and the College of Engineering who developed the class, Lunetta said. Throughout its three years, the class has been evolving, he said.

Although Lakhtakia said the class is taught in a language that students can understand, some students disagree.

"We don't know what's right and wrong. Our teacher doesn't give a complete answer. We're expected to know what engineering people do even through we're not engineers," Hendershot said.

Schmidt thinks there may be too much focus on independent learning.

"We're not being told why or how some of the principles we're using apply in the projects we're doing," he said.

Many in the class, however, would recommend it to other students.

"I would recommend it to people who really don't have a scientific mind," Nick Enciso (junior- theatrical production) said.

Johnson believes that elementary education majors would benefit most from the class.

"It's geared toward teaching younger kids," he said.

Despite its focus on education, students should expect the course to be rigorous. "They should be spending three if not four hours a week outside of class," Lakhtakia said.