Teaching Gears Young

There's a nice story out of the News-Gazette of Champaign, IL about youth education in engineering. The South View Middle School is stepping up its science-technical educational efforts and it seems to be a hit with the students. While students get to work in groups, brainstorm, and develop their math-science skills, they also engage in hands-on learning.

Eighth-graders Andrew Nelson and Joby Means, who have been studying mechanical gears and how they are used, build a bevel gear with materials from a kit.

"This was easy," Joby said, turning a crank to make the gears move. Soon, students will learn how to move the gears using a computer program.

Like Jelicia and Ashylee, Andrew said he didn't know whether he would like the pre-engineering activities, which he started in sixth grade. But Smith's classes quickly became his favorite, and he's looking forward to continuing them in high school and college.

Even if not every student--likely--in the program goes on to an engineering degree, the school is definitely planting the seeds for the engineers of tomorrow.