Are you LEGO® Smart™? Are your students? Being LEGO Smart is more than building with LEGO® bricks. It’s having the ability to work in teams, solve problems, and create solutions. It means understanding key science, technology, engineering, and math concepts – not just on paper, but through demonstration. LEGO Smart students don’t just know it, they DO it. The sets, software, and curriculum designed by LEGO Education harness the power of the LEGO brick and combine to create learning opportunities for students that will help develop the skills needed for a lifetime of creating, solving, and contributing to a global society. Be LEGO Smart – be the future.
Danny the Dragon has gone into hiding in a cave in the mountains. He is rarely seen, but is still very popular and the Mayor wants to make a memorial column with him on the top. Show a pre-built Danny the Dragon for 5 seconds to teams of 3-4. Then hide Danny back in his cave and ask each team to build a copy of him from memory. You may have to show Danny the Dragon one more time to all teams.
Letters and Sounds
This activity can be completed with either home-made or store-bought alphabet flashcards. To begin each student is given an ample amount of bricks. When ready the teacher shuffles the flashcards and randomly selects one from the deck.
The teacher presents the card to the class and asks the class to make the sound that particular letter makes. Remember: vowels and some special consonants are capable of making more than one sound and students need to be reminded about these unique cases.
When the letter has been reviewed, the teacher instructs the students to build a model of an object which starts with that particular letter sound. When the students have finished building, the teacher should go around the room asking each student what they made, writing the name of each model on the board.
How long of a list were the students able to create? Can they think of more objects they could have built? Did the models built represent the various sounds that some letters can make? Did the students make any mistakes such as building a "cat" model when the letter "K" was drawn?
Remember that for younger students these kinds of mistakes are inevitable; if this does occur simply use it as a stepping stone into a discussion about why it is important to study letter sounds and words.
What's the Chance?
The teacher should divide the students into groups of two. Each group should be given a brown paper bag filled with one blue brick, two green bricks, three red bricks, and four yellow bricks. Once the students have recieved their bag, the teacher should point out the contents within.
Instruct Student A to close their eyes. Student B should then shake the bag. When finished, Student A will reach in the bag and grab one brick. Student A will then record the color of brick they picked on a sheet of paper. Student A will repeat this process six times. After the sixth draw, Student A should look at their records and predict which color of brick they believe they will pick the most.
When Student A has made his/her prediction, they should continue the random drawing process until they have recorded the color of twenty bricks. Student A and Student B should then switch roles, following the same process.
Did the students correctly predict the outcome? Didi Student A and Student B have similar findings? Which color was recorded the most, the least? What is the cause of their results?
This activity focuses on developing four skills:
The Importance of Description
All students should be given the same set and amount of bricks. The teacher should build a model using the given brick set, but keep the finished product hidden from the students until the end of the activity.
When the students are ready the teacher will proceed by giving verbal directions on how to build the model he/she already constructed. However, there is a catch! The teacher should only use vague directions. For example, instruct the students to put the green brick on top of the yellow brick, but do not indicate the size of each of the bricks or the specifics on how they fit together.
When the teacher has finished giving directions, he/she should pull out their model and compare it to those built by the students. What happened? Are any of the models the same? Why or why not?
After this a discussion can take place on why being specific and descriptive when giving directions is important. Can the students think of a time when thorough directions could be very beneficial? Are there any occupations which rely on being detail-oriented?
The Longest Caterpillar
All students should be given the same set and amount of bricks. After this, instruct them to build the longest possible caterpillar out of the given brick set. When the students have completed this task, decide upon a way of measuring how long each caterpillar is (draw on a piece of paper, trace around and cut out, count studs, etc.). The students should then compare their designs to those of their peers. Are there any ways in which the models could be improved to make the caterpillars even longer?
This activity focuses on developing four Key Learning Values:
Riddles and Rhymes
Let the student's imaginations run free as they are allowed to build a model of any real-life object of their choice.
When each student has finished building, inform the class that everyone is now to create a riddle or a rhyme that gives clues as to what their completed model is.
Example:
Each student then shares his or her model and riddle with the class or a group. The riddles should allow the other students to correctly guess what each of the models is. After someone has correctly identified the model, the student responsible for the design should explain how they conveyed the characteristics of the real-life object through their model.
Alien Discovery
Hide a pre-built LEGO alien model and hide in within the room. Divide the students into groups of four. Two on each team will be the “builders”. One team member will be the “purchasing agent” and the final member will be the “architect or engineer”.
After a set time period, each team compares its alien construction to the hidden alien model, noting similarities and differences.
The Power of Imagination
Pre-build a simple LEGO model using only 5-7 elements. Divide the students into small groups of 3-4.
Give verbal directions to the class on how to construct a model that looks exactly like the pre-built model. Challenge each group to brainstorm what this model could be. Have them look at it in all different ways (upside-down, sideways, etc.). A note taker at each table can jot down all the possible ideas formulated by their group.
Ask each table to share their ideas. Which were the most original? Ask each group to elaborate on their original idea. What attributes, i.e. shape, colors, size, and features of the model helped the students to determine what it might be?
Back to Back
Divide students into pairs and give each an identical set of LEGO bricks. Ask the students to sit back to back, and tell Student A to build a structure out of their set of bricks. Without looking at the structure, the Student B must build an identical version with his or her own bricks, using only verbal instructions from Student A. Student A cannot look at Student B’s progress, and Student B cannot ask questions.
Tallest Tower
Divide students into pairs and give each pair a set of LEGO bricks. Ask the students to build the tallest tower possible out of their bricks, in a two-minute time period. Compare the towers in the classroom and measure to determine the tallest.
Variations:
From the Drawing Board
Divide students into pairs and give each pair five different LEGO bricks. Ask Student A to make a two-dimensional footprint drawing of a structure that can be built with the available LEGO bricks. Student B can then build the structure using the drawing. The activity can be made more complex by adding bricks, or less complex by allowing Student A to color the different elements on the paper in the correct matching colors.
The Shy Dragon
The Famous Sculpture
Hide a pre-built sculpture behind a board or under a towel. Divide into teams of 3-4. Give each team member a number from 1 to 4.
Tell the teams that when you say GO, team member no. 1 can rush to look at the sculpture for a little while. Then the team member has to run back to the team and explain how to build the sculpture. The team member cannot build while he/she is explaining how to build the sculpture.
After a short while, you call team member no. 2, who rushes to take a look at the sculpture and runs back to further explain the model. Continue until each team member has had a turn. When finished let the teams discuss and compare the completed sculptures with one another.
Ask the teams to guess which sculpture is closest to the design of ‘the real one’. Proper argumentation should be used.