LEGO EDUCATION : NURTURING CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION
During our English class, we made something we were not used to doing before. We used Lego and other toys in order to invent a story and make a "movie" with it, using just a cell phone and music from the internet.
The aim of this work was first to discover a new way of education that could enable people to speak in English. This exercise made us learn how to work as a team, taking into account the different levels in English that people had. We had to find the most appropriate sentences so that everybody in the team could understand, and to use the simplest English as possible. It made us develop filmmaker skills as well.
We know that playing with legos improves children’s creativity. The LEGO Learning Institute found out that this creativity could be transposed to other publics. They associate the fact of playing with learning and creating. This institute has made very serious research about learning, and the word “to play” often appears. They sell “the benefits of play, the many ways of playing and the relevance of the different types of play for child development and the stimulation of adults”. It’s very interesting to see that such a big company as Lego has made some researches about learning. But the question is : how huge the commercial intentions are ? I reckon that it can be very useful for many things and particularly in firms, but we must keep in mind the lucrative purpose hidden behind this project.
In the video entitled “Lego serious play for education”, we can see tools about learning for children. To start, the knowledge is a thing that is not necessarily connected to our interest. what’s more, learning is better if we are connected with other people. And if you try to learn things, it’s not sure that pupils will learn that. In a normal classroom, pupils are disconnected from their friends when they are studying. The teacher brings the knowledge and pupils are alone to learn. With Lego, pupils are connected, they work together to create knowledge. It’s more exciting to teach and learn things together. It’s not the same pupils who are answering each question. Thanks to Lego, you share skills and difficulties.
Using Lego can improve the relationships between children in another context. Teachers can help children and talk with them about different topics. This method develops the social study in class. Lego allows children to get a better imagination about their future. For example, children can imagine their lives as some engineers, or doctors : they plan their future life. Playing with Lego allowed them to express themselves and to be more creative. It’s a good way for them to speak their mind.
