OACS News Service

Halton Hills introduces Lego Serious Play to align with changing educational focus
21st century education emphasizes ‘creativity, innovation, teamwork, synergy,’ says vice-principal
Wednesday March 10, 2010 -- Michelle Strutzenberger
Visit a Halton Hills Christian School classroom these days and you could find students building Lego structures.

The school has introduced a just-on-the-market innovation, Lego Serious Play, which is designed to boost the creativity and teamwork of students through hands-on activity with specialized Lego kits.

Vice-principal George Cook says the innovation aligns well with the changing focus in education.

“Education in the 21st century has much more focus on creativity, innovation, teamwork and synergy,” says Cook.

With knowledge being so readily available now through the Internet, “we’re moving away from the accumulation of factual knowledge to learning how to effectively deal with knowledge,” he notes.
 
“We saw the Lego Serious Play material as being a good springboard for developing those skills.”

Originally created as a tool for enhancing business innovation and performance, Lego Serious Play was developed for use in schools in 2009.

Halton Hills learned about it on a visit to a North Carolina school which has implemented a number of cutting-edge innovations. Cook says he and fellow Halton Hills representatives were taken with how the Lego engaged the students, even more so than other technological products, and they decided it was worth investing in the initiative for their own school.

The product is so new it was only available in Denmark and the U.S. when Halton Hills first looked into it late last year. The school had to wait for it to be assigned a Canadian product number.

Junior kindergarten to Grade 6 classes have been using the Lego kits for about three weeks, with the goal of engaging students all the way to Grade 8.

Cook says he has used the product in the science and Bible classes he teaches as supports to other forms of learning.

The school’s Grade 4 teacher attests to the product already engaging students at a deeper level, and motivating them to communicate much more on subjects they’re exploring as a class.

A key component of the Lego Serious Play is to have students first build certain models — often symbolizing emotions or reactions to situations — and then to explain what they’ve constructed.

This can enhance communication skills for students who find it difficult to express themselves verbally or with the written word but are adept at creating something with their hands, says Cook.

“Once they’ve got the model, that provides the pathway for them to talk more freely and explain it,” he notes.

The program’s emphasis on symbolism is designed to trigger student creativity.

Various guidelines that come with it are geared to boosting teamwork. For instance, students are allowed to replicate someone else’s ideas into their work, the view being that good ideas are meant to be shared and will likely generate even better models.

Halton Hills plans to purchase a second Lego Serious Play set of about 30 kits in the fall.

The school has also introduced a number of other innovations, including a new student leadership program and an unique reading program.

To learn more about Lego Serious Play, visit this link.

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