100 LEGOs: Unlimited Potential
What happens when you give a classroom full of Kindergarteners bags filled with the exact same number of LEGO® pieces and let their creativity take over? Early Childhood educator and Lab’s own LEGO Master, Dave Kaleta, found out last spring. With their bags in hand, the children were tasked with making a creation in which all of the 100 LEGOs were connected to each other and had the structural integrity to be picked up. The outcome was wildly innovative, delightfully colorful, and an exercise in problem solving and teamwork.
Some students were already LEGO Masters in training, while others had very little experience with the small blocks and tiny connectors. Because they all had the same pieces, students could look at each other’s work, share ideas, brainstorm together, and feed off of each other’s concepts. New ideas came to life. Brick by LEGO brick, an incredible array of constructions developed under the grasp of lots of little hands.
Building with LEGOs may look like child’s play, but it develops essential STEM skills, such as spatial reasoning, problem-solving, creativity, and critical thinking. As students mature, these building blocks translate into the fundamentals of analytical thinking and creative analysis and the blueprint for innovation emerges. Future possibilities are endless and it all starts with 100 LEGOs and one inspirational teacher.
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