Lego for Learning

Failure is just a step towards success. -Colleen Thomson, North Idaho STEM Charter Academy

Robots, structures, cars and more—LEGO offers so many ways for children to build and engage in STEM-based learning. The best Lego sets are ones that get used, I always say. LEGO has grown from a basic toy manufacturer to an educational empire, with programs tailored to public and charter schools, after-school programs and workshops. LEGO Education‘s mission is to “create active, collaborative, lifelong learners,” and to work with teachers to “enable every student to succeed in education and be prepared for future life challenges.”

The LEGO Learning System is built on the “4Cs”:

  • Connect—topic introduction, knowledge scaffolding
  • Construct—building activity begins
  • Contemplate—reflection, collaboration
  • Continue—new, advanced task is introduced

The system promotes critical thinking and experimentation. It allows students to not only learn constructive skills but to learn through building, by making interdisciplinary connections and embracing open-ended questions and reflection. Once on the best LEGO table, kids enter another world.

These programs and products inspire children to create and prepare them to become the problem-solvers of the future. In the video above, teachers and administrators describe how LEGO Education has transformed their classrooms into hands-on learning labs. Children are excited to begin a lesson with LEGO–without this excitement, educational engagement isn’t possible. Whether it’s the familiar comfort of the brand or the thought of playing with the best Lego City Police sets with friends at school, there’s something about bins of building blocks that make learning fun for children of all ages.

LEGO Education provides solutions for children in preschool through middle school, for a wide variety of topics, including science, math and language arts. Their systems include teacher guides with worksheet, tips, and software to support you before, during and after a lesson. And the learning doesn’t stop at STEM; LEGO also supports socio-emotional and cognitive skills, builds vocabulary and promotes storytelling. Check out some of their most popular education products to get inspired!

WeDo 2.0
Introduce young students to robotics with the WeDo 2.0 kit. They’ll learn about sensors, motors and simple machines as they work together to build constructions that come to life through robotics.

More2Math
Replace simple math manipulatives with the LEGO More2Math kit. The kit includes bricks, building elements and mini-figures that can be used with the 48 included activities (or come up with some of your own)! The lessons are designed to address a number of different math standards and can be compounded with the whiteboard software to take learning to a digital level.

Story starter
Encourage writing, reading and vocabulary skills with the Storystarter kit. Students use scenery (such as big LEGO cities), mini-figures and props to create vivid scenes that are used as inspiration for writing assignments. It’s a creative solution to writer’s block and can be used independently or collaboratively.

If you haven’t yet, bring LEGO into your classroom…because really, who doesn’t love LEGO?

 

Feature image courtesy of Flickr, BarbaraLN.

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