One recent afternoon, at a bike shop in Corona, Queens, the mechanics are busy replacing front wheels. In their navy-blue jumpsuits, they hoist bicycles onto stands, align chains and pump air into tires.

The bike shop is a school cafeteria, and the mechanics are 4th-graders. It’s the bicycle mechanics club at PS 143.

“Learning should take place when the body is moving,” said Peter Heinz, the teacher who spearheads the program. Heinz believes STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) programs should incorporate “hands-on, mechanical” elements to engage students “physically and cognitively,” so he started a boat-building program in 2015. Two years later, with a $5,000 grant from HBO and a partnership with the nonprofit Recycle-A-Bike, he started the bike mechanics club.

Heinz was inspired by his own childhood on Long Island, where his parents ran a boatyard and his father worked on bicycles. “I still remember the yellow bike I had,” he said. Heinz hopes to pass his passion for mechanical work on to his students.

Together with his colleagues, Heinz seeks out a diverse group of students for the club, taking care to have an even balance of boys and girls and to include English language learners and students with disabilities.

“Peter lets them figure out what’s wrong and how to fix it,” Andrea Maniatis, the school’s chapter leader, said as one student grappled with a tire that refused to stay still while she tightened screws. Two of her classmates wordlessly stepped in to help hold the tire in place.

As the year goes on, Heinz explained, “the kids work better together and they don’t stop working when they get stumped.”

Jonathan Fickies

Finished with their work, the young mechanics enjoy a cruise around the bike shop. As Peter Heinz tells his students, "No helmet, no riding."

Once all the tires are replaced, the students mount their bikes, don their helmets and start zooming across the floor.

“They’re confident they did the right thing because they’re riding their bikes now,” Maniatis said.

Heinz said half the students knew how to ride at the beginning of the school year, but “they’ll all be riding within a few weeks.” The program includes family days and bike clinics so students’ families can join in the fun.

Angelica Salgado, whose children attended PS 143, said her son’s participation in the bike mechanics club “helped him to focus more and concentrate more.”

“When they get this experience — with the tools, working in teams — they’re more confident because they know how to fix something,” said Salgado, whose son is now in middle school.

Does he still ride a bike? “Everywhere,” she said. “And he takes care of it.”