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LEGO Education as an effective means of developing students’ scientific and technological skills

Natalia Nahorna

(Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine)

LEGO Education Company has been working in cooperation with teachers and educators for more than 35 years. It successfully introduces effective and exciting training, which inspires students for new achievements. The company shares its experience of teaching decision-making skills by means of a game using LEGO-bricks, printed and multimedia materials for preschoolers, primary and secondary school students and extra-curricular classes. Educational decisions of LEGO Education Company allow each child to succeed, encourage to be creative, to work in a team, provide with an excellent opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills needed for solving difficult problems in the future.

FIRST Company (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded in 1989 to inspire young people to become leaders in the sphere of science and technology by involving them in exciting robotics projects based on the principles of mentoring and STEM-education. Founded in Manchester, it is an unprofitable charity organization, that implements innovative programs in order to motivate students to study science, technology, engineering and maths, to become more self-confident and to develop important life skills. FIRST projects offer an opportunity of continuous development from 6 to 18 years old. Students can join FIRST international projects at any stage. The four FIRST programs are FIRST LEGO League Jr. (ages 6-10), FIRST LEGO League (ages 9-16), FIRST Tech Challenge (ages 12-18) and FIRST Robotics Competition (ages 14-18).

Our school is an active participant of FIRST LEGO League Jr. Two years ago we won a grant to join the project. Since then we get all necessary materials for free. There are 5 certified LEGO coaches who work with 10 teams during the school year.

FIRST LEGO League Jr. is a non-competitive project for primary school students. Every year FIRST LEGO League Jr. presents a creative new Season Task. Every team consisting of up to 6 members studies the Season Topic, builds and programmes the LEGO-Model which includes the Inspire Model. Using the Inspire Model as a starting point, students construct their own LEGO-Model from LEGO-bricks. Working at the model, the participants learn the basics of engineering and programming with the help of LEGO Education WeDo and use their knowledge to make the model move. Every team attends 12-14 classes during which the team members study the Season Topic (last year it was Water Adventure, now we are working at Mission: Moon project), make notes in their Engineering Notebooks and make a poster to present their research.

The rules of work and cooperation in the team are defined by FIRST LEGO League Jr.Core Values. The most important of them are: discovery (students get new skills and ideas); innovation (they use creativity and persistence in problem solving); contribution (they use their knowledge to improve the world); noble professionalism (we respect each other and accept our differences); team work (we are strong when we work together); fun (we enjoy ourselves and have fun together).

Working in a team, students solve the problems by themselves. The coach can only help them to study. Team members use the Internet resources to learn and research the problem, find possible solutions and present their ideas.

The major principles all teams must observe are the following: Explore, Build, Test and Share. After a difficult but thrilling research, the students invite their families and friends to a special meeting where they share all their knowledge and ideas. Then they attend and take part in a Robotics Festival where all participating teams are winners as they receive Lego souvenirs and are awarded in different categories such as Best Model, Best Presentation, Best Poster, Best Team Work etc.

The main motto of LEGO Education is: Have fun whatever you do! All the team members really enjoy LEGO classes and Robotics Festivals. They acquire engineering and technical skills which will definitely help them in their future studies.

References:

  1. [electronic resource, access: https://education.lego.com/en-us]

  2. [electronic resource, access: http://firstlegoleague.org.ua]

  3. [electronic resource, access: https://www.pinterest.com/firstinspires]

  4. [electronic resource, access: https://www.youtube.com/user/JrFLLGlobal]