LEGO-based Engineering Modules for Adult Learning

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With the advent of the new autonomous LEGO brick (the RCX), new approaches to data acquisition, analysis, hypothesis testing, and results presentation are possible. Designing and building rather than executing pre-made experiments is critical to the success of engineers in the modern engineering environment, as highlighted by ABET'S new engineering criteria 2000. Before the RCX, engineering laboratory experiences were constrained largely to the lab and were not accommodating to diverse learning styles and learning venues. With the RCX and the associated instructional materials resulting from this project, students in engineering and teacher education programs, as well as remote adult learners, can create and conduct individualized experiments, free of the usual constraints. This project provides a model for the usage of the RCX as 1) a common instructional thread of the undergraduate engineering educational experience, from freshman advising to senior design projects and as 2) a creative and stimulating learning tool for pre-service teacher education programs to provide engineering literacy for their students. Additonally, this project addresses adult learning through the examination of engineering challenges. These challenges are based on the undergraduate RCX-based projects. Participating adults can share data, theories, and techniques with other adults (and children) across the world with the web. Each of these modules or kits includes a section for the adult who is a parent on how to learn alongside the child - bridging learning from the classroom to learning in the home. Based on the new LEGO brick, the RCX, this project excites and teaches a broad cadre of college students, children, and adults.