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 Todd Thuma, Indian River State College
The purpose of this activity is for students to define a language or lexicon for a set number of elements in their LEGO Smart Kit. They will then teach this language or Lexicon to 2 other groups.
1. Divide the students into groups of three students each and dispense a kit to each group. 2. Explain to students that they must randomly pick 10 LEGO bricks from the 20 bricks in their bag. Set aside the 10 bricks they do not select. 3. Students will construct a language to describe each element of the ten selected. Points will be awarded to each team based upon creativity, the ability of their chosen words to describe more than just one element, and the ability of their words to describe the other 10 pieces set aside. 4. Students must write this language or lexicon down into a dictionary type format. 5. After 20 minutes or so, student groups will visit another student group and each will teach their language or lexicon to the group using the bricks they chose and the visiting group’s bricks. Points will be awarded to each group for learning the other group’s language. 6. After 20 minutes or so, the groups will switch and visit a second group to explore the other group’s language and teach their own language. 7. After another 20 minutes, the class will discuss each other's language or lexicon for the LEGO bricks and discuss in group the differences and similarities of each language. What influences did they have in developing their language? Did culture influence their choice of words to use for each element? What parallels can they draw with foreign languages? Is there one language more descriptive than another? Did anyone have any difficulty with another group’s language?
Lesson Learned: Language and slang is an important aspect of a child's education. Children will learn about language, slang and culture through this activity as they work together to develop a lexicon for the LEGO Elements included in there LEGO Smart Kit.