Bits 'n’ Bots

Plainsboro library gets young scientists tinkering

By Kathy Ishizuka -- School Library Journal, 6/1/2006

Robotic animals, Rube Goldberg machines, and giant hissing cockroaches are not the ordinary stuff of libraries. But the Plainsboro (NJ) Public Library—which proudly numbers these items among its collection—is anything but ordinary.

Yet two minutes into a conversation with library director Jinny Baeckler—and it’s no easy feat to keep up with the woman’s rapid-fire speech—and it all makes perfect sense. “I believe passionately that science education is not working in this country. I think one of the key reasons is that science isn’t introduced early enough—we wait until children are already past the interest point, when they already know that there’s a right and a wrong answer,” she says. “We don’t dare them to risk or come up with the next question,” which is at the heart of the scientific method, asserts Baeckler.

That’s why Plainsboro (www.lmxac.org/plainsboro) houses a small science center. When the library moved into a new facility in 1993, it was Baeckler who insisted on this provision.

Among the more popular activities taking place there are classes in which children experiment with robotics using Lego Mindstorms. Currently, plans are under way to prepare for a new series of fall 2006 classes, featuring the next generation of Lego’s robotics tool set, Mindstorms NXT. The new toy, which previewed at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, will include Bluetooth technology, so users can easily download programs to a construction or control robots from a mobile phone or PDA. The NXT can also be programmed from a Mac, as well as a PC—a first for a Mindstorms product. Despite the more sophisticated technology, Lego claims that a user can build and program a working NXT robot in about 30 minutes.

That will be put to the test in August, when the NXT will be released. Plainsboro has a standing order and has lined up several volunteers to experiment with the Legos and help plan the class for the library. The volunteers, many professional engineers, all work at the nearby Siemens Corporation, which has provided mentors for Plainsboro’s Lego program since its inception in 2003.

Siemens also helps fund the initiative, which involves free after-school and evening classes, where students, aged nine and up, work in small groups, learning basic mechanical and computer programming skills–and have fun at the same time. Participants can go on to form teams for a little competitive robot action also held at the library.

Prompted by her observation of one class, in which “the girls stunk,” says Baeckler, the library launched a second hands-on series in 2004, “Robotics and Women.” For providing a nonintimidating environment in which girls and women can build confidence in their mechanical skills, the state of New Jersey recognized Plainsboro in March 2005 as the outstanding community organization offering innovations in science and technology for women.

Plainsboro continues to encourage citizens of all ages to get involved with robotics, along with the kids. “We have a level of culture where the parents haven’t had any science either,” says Baeckler. “We are losing touch with the pragmatics of life.”

The library director comes by her passion for technology and science honestly. Baeckler’s father was a Bell Labs scientist, but the greater influence, she maintains, is the time she has spent side by side with her son, taking things apart or just tinkering.

But is “tinkering” an appropriate activity to offer in a library? “It is a wonderful place for science to blossom,” replies Baeckler. “We also drop eggs from the roof.”