Ms. Thomas, 3rd-grade teacher at Hatch, rubbed her hands together. She asked her students why her hands scrape against each other and why they get warm and fatigued as she rubbed. Ms. Thomas was demonstrating the concept of friction and the students were soon going to experiment with how to reduce friction to make work easier using . . . LEGOs.

Like all District 97 third graders, these students at Hatch were using LEGOs to build simple machines as part of OPEF's Geared Up program. Constructing everything from simple levers to more complicated fly-wheels, students have had the chance to experiment with how these machines are constructed and why they work. In Ms. Thomas' class on this February afternoon, the kids were building wheels and axles and in the process learning how wheels reduce friction to make work, and life, a lot easier!

The Geared Up program complements the 3rd graders' DeltaScience unit on Force and Motion. As Lena B. explained, they were working with the LEGOs "to learn more about simple machines and how we use them, like when we drive we wouldn't be able to move without them."

Understanding the relevance of what they are learning in science and with Geared Up, Zeevie D. pointed out that they are "fixing the church across the street [from Hatch] and they are using levers to pick things up so they don't have to carry them up."

By experimenting with different size wheels and axles, the students see what works and what doesn't, why our simple machines are built the way they are. Rees V. was working with his partner on their wheel and axle model. He discovered that by "switching out the shorter axle for a longer one it is easier to turn."

In another experiment, Kennedy O. observed that the addition of one small piece to the axle allowed the wheels to run more smoothly because with it the wheels and axle turn together.

The class as a whole discussed their findings near the end of the session. One student noted the relationship that they started the class with, that between friction and the wheels: It would take more energy and more time to move a load without the wheels and axles helping to do the work.

When asked why they were getting to play with LEGOs in school, Rees V. said, "So we can learn how to build harder, better machines when we get older."