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 Entry By Ferial Khan, Homeschool
Place the #1 pink LEGO brick under, and in the middle of, the large blue #16 LEGO brick. Attach the orange and yellow #8 LEGO bricks on either side and on the top of the blue brick, making sure that their long axis is the same as that of the blue brick. The orange and yellow LEGO bricks must each be connected to the last 4 connecting studs of the blue brick so that they project beyond the blue brick. Then, on top of the yellow and orange LEGO bricks place the green and gray #12 LEGO bricks onto the last 2 connecting studs to the outer edge, in a perpendicular arrangement. Now use the balance to see which of the remaining LEGO bricks, or combination of bricks weigh the same or not. Essentially, the pink brick acts as the anvil of the 'see-saw'-like balance.
Lesson Learned: The aim of this activity is to develop an understanding of how a simple balance works. A "seesaw"-like balance is constructed and used to compare the weights of remaining LEGO bricks.
LEGO Smart Creativity Contest Entry By Christine Guest, Homeschool
What do the orange and yellow 2x2 LEGO bricks, the white LEGO plate, the green LEGO plate, and the pink LEGO brick all have in common? There are lots of right answers, but they are all squares. Look at the fractions 2/2, 1/1, and 4/4. If you simplify those fractions, what do you get? Compare a 2x4 LEGO brick and a 1x2 LEGO brick. Are they in proportion like the squares were? How about the 1x4 and 2x8? How do you know they are in proportion?
Lesson Learned: Similar shapes look similar, even if they are at different scales. You can count the studs on your LEGO bricks to help you figure out scale.
LEGO Smart Creativity Contest Entry By Kim and Justin Thompson, Homeschool
Two to three players are needed (with one being "Simon"). The educator starts out as "Simon" and gives commands to the other players using the "Simon Says" model (e.g. "Simon says, attach a yellow LEGO brick to a blue LEGO brick..."). The directives can start out easily and build in complexity; however, the player must hear "Simon Says" in order to complete the task. If the educator says, "Put a red LEGO brick on a blue LEGO brick" (without saying "Simon Says") and the player does the directive anyway, the game has ended and it's another player's turn to be "Simon." Educators and players can get really creative in building different shapes, animals, structures, and so on. Simple and fun!
Lesson Learned: listening skills, color/shape/texture recognition, building creativity, taking turns, good sportsmanship
LEGO Smart Creativity Contest Entry By Taylor Penrose
Create a boat… Gather the class together for this project. Discuss how the class might build a boat. By using all the bricks in your LEGO Smart Kit... Now that you have your plan, no talking or alterations allowed. (5 minutes) Have one student start this project and pass it around. The students will take a brick and place their brick on the existing model, remember no alterations or talking allowed! Play completes when all the bricks have been used. (10 minutes) Discuss the project. (no negative feedback)
Lesson Learned: The value of talking about a plan of action prior to implementation. The importance of active listening and remembering what was discussed. Communication, team building, and creativity are used in this project.
LEGO Smart Creativity Contest Entry By Christine Guest, homeschool
Take out the white, black and gray LEGO bricks. Arrange them from darkest to lightest. You just make a gray scale. Now compare the colored LEGO bricks to your scale. Which ones are as intense as the black? Are any as pale as the white? Which gray is as intense as the pink or light green? Look at a black and white photo. How many shades of gray are used? How would a dog see your LEGO bricks?
Lesson Learned: We can organize tints and shades by thinking of them on a gray scale. This is helpful when planning an art project, painting a room, or choosing elements of a craft project.
LEGO Smart Creativity Contest Entry By Audrey Wood, Argyle Central School
This activity can be implemented into a reading curriculum as the class reads Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Ronald Dahl. After being introduced to the Oompa-Loompas, the teacher may facilitate a class discussion on the survival of this species in their native land. A brief review of science content related to food chains, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, predator/prey relationships, ecosystems, habitats, adaptations, etc. may be necessary. The teacher then distributes LEGO Smart Kits to students and instructs them to create a creature that inhabits LEGO Land with the Oompa Loompas. After creating the organism, students are responsible to name it and develop an encyclopedia entry detailing the appearance, habitat, physical and behavioral adaptations, natural enemies, eating and sleeping habits, etc. of the creature. After approximately 30 minutes, the group reassembles in one area of the classroom and each child shares his/her LEGO Creature and corresponding Encyclopedia description. A discussion may be generated about how these individual species interact in the Lego environment with each other and the Oompa Loompas.
Lesson Learned: Students learn to connect classic literature to science through a higher-level thinking activity. Students communicate their creative designs with classmates via a written encyclopedia entry. The class then strengthens team building skills by working together to discuss the interaction between individual creature species.