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.
LEGO Smart Creativity Contest EntryBy Jen Tilley, Woodland Elementary
1. Each student builds a creation with their set of LEGO bricks. 2. Each student writes step by step directions for building their object. 3. Students trade directions, and try to re-create the object being described. 4. Did they turn out the same? Were your directions detailed enough?
Lesson Learned: description and details, following written directions
1. Each student pulls out a handful of bricks. 2. Students tally the colors, then fill out a bar graph for their tally marks. 3. Finally, students must make a creation using all the bricks they pulled. 4. Display the creations with their graphs.
Lesson Learned: graphing, counting, tally marks
1. Assign a point or money amount to each color of LEGO brick. 2. Provide students with a point or money value to reach (whole group) or cards with various point or money amounts (small group/individual). 3. Students must build an object that is worth the set number of points or money amount. 4. Students can then make a list of LEGO bricks used and show their addition.
Lesson Learned: addition and subtraction skills, estimating, money addition
LEGO Smart Creativity Contest EntryBy Kristi Rawlins, Butte MT Homeschool
Starting with the pink brick as a base, assemble all bricks into a balanced tower. Bricks must ascend from smallest to largest, as tall as possible and must stand on its own.
Lesson Learned: Mechanics of Mass Distribution
LEGO Smart Creativity Contest EntryBy Kristi Rawlins, Butte FLL Robotics Homeschool Club
A design object is chosen by the leader (specific animal, building, person, etc.). Two team members use one kit to design the object, each taking turns applying one brick at a time. No words are allowed and not all bricks need to be used.
Lesson Learned: Team Design, Cooperation, Design Flexibility and Creativity
LEGO Smart Creativity Contest EntryBy Sean Anderson, USAF Academy
Tell the students they can use all bricks with the exception of the slanted black brick. The goal is to achieve the tallest tower possible while being able to climb the tower in thin plate increments. In order to explain this to younger students, suggest that a small ant can only climb one plate level at a time and must be able to climb to the top of the tower from the ground. To encourage greater creativity, tell the students that the path may travel under bricks but they must leave at least one brick of height in order for the 'ant' to fit. I was only able to make my staircase 13 thin levels tall. See if your students can achieve more!
Lesson Learned: This exercise is designed to push students ability to think outside the norm in order to excel. Another emphasis item is for students to plan how their product will take shape before they start putting it together in order to maximize results.