Four Things I Learned about PLAY During my Visit to the Birthplace of LEGO
LEGO House ”Home of the Brick” in Billund, Denmark
LEGO Education is dedicated to building a future where learning through play empowers children to become creative engaged lifelong learners. During my visit to LEGO in Billund, Denmark with Rockwell Automation and FIRST I learned that when young people are engaged in playful STEM activities they ignite their natural curiosity, grow their knowledge, and develop habits of learning. Here are four key takeaways from my 3 days with LEGO Education!
Playful STEM experiences provide a foundation for future learning and innovation
When youth are engaged in play they are cycling through a simplified version of the Engineering Design Process. When educators nurture these NATURAL BORN SCIENTISTS they build a bridge between the real world, STEM skills, language and literacy!
Exploring
Creating
Testing
Sharing
Innovators are just grown-up kids that never stopped playing!
Fear of failure is minimized during play
Fear of failure and concern for constraints are less prevalent during play. Therefore, young people are more likely to explore the topic in depth and are more willing to look for innovative approaches.
Play allows for the exploration of a subject via multiple learning styles
A well-planned activity can touch visual, aural, verbal, physical and social learning styles. The variety can lead to improved retention of the material and maximizes the young peoples' learning potential.
HANDS-ON MINDS-IN
Play can change the world
Play can provide an opportunity for both creative exploration and real-life application. This combination is what turns on the light bulb for youth! When young people can connect the dots between their passions and a real-life application/career, their interest transforms into commitment.
A creative mind that is committed to exploring their passion can change the world!
Get your child involved in playful STEM activities
FIRST LEGO League and FIRST LEGO League Jr. give me hope for the future. It's more than robots! Youth have the opportunity to look at the world around them and come up with innovative solutions to relevant problems in their community.
They face a new challenge every year and have an opportunity to work in teams to solve complex problems. They learn that the world around them is moldable. They create a vision for what they want the world to look like and begin to reverse-engineer the solutions that will make it a better place. Get your child started today!
Let’s re-define play and re-imagine learning!