STANFORD - Sixth-graders at Olympia Middle School are using toys to build up their science knowledge. Students in Amity Westphalen's science encore class use Legos and special software to design robots.

"I wanted to show them that science is fun," said Westphalen.

The class forms two teams, and each designs and programs a robot to complete specific missions. In December, the students will compete in a Lego League competition.

Last week, student Mike Miller worked with two teammates to test their robot. When it failed to perform one of the competition tasks, the students went back to the computer to reprogram the robot.

Each student had a specific job, and Logan Hawker's was programming. As he made a few changes to his team's robot, he admitted "most of the time" the robot doesn't do what he thinks he programmed it to do.

"It goes backwards instead of forwards, and things like that," said Hawker.

Still, he would stay all day long in the class if he could.

There was no doubt that students were learning, in addition to having fun. When Westphalen suggested a design modification, a student quickly caught on and described to Westphalen how additional teeth in the gears would help the wheels turn more.

That conversation made Westphalen smile.

"I really wanted a project that gave them a sense of accomplishment. It is important to me that at the end of the semester, they realize all they learned," she said.

As part of the competition, students also complete a research project. One team is studying how deer ticks are affected by climate and the other is learning about landfill fires.

The class, which is optional, was funded by a grant from Caterpillar Inc.