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Students Communicate With Legos
A new offering from Lego Education helps students become better communicators by using the familiar building toy.
The program, BuildToExpress, lets students use Lego bricks to build metaphors and share insights and experiences. Young people build models that illustrate their understanding of various curriculum concepts—for example, how they "view" democracy or how they visualize a historic event.
"I am a firm believer in a hands-on approach to learning," said Dr. Cindy Little, instructor, Baylor's School of Education. "The BuildToExpress experience holds great potential for learning across all ages."
Lego Education’s BuildToExpress is a new approach that combines traditional Lego bricks with a facilitative teaching process. The program provides a shared, nonverbal language that levels the playing field for classroom communication.
"Imagine a classroom full of positive and motivated students—where everyone gets involved and takes an active role in the learning process and where you, the teacher, become a true hands-on facilitator," said Jacob Kragh, president, Lego Education. "The solution is tailored for educators who are serious about developing 21st-century learners and creative problem solvers."
The professional development program offered by Lego Education prepares teachers for structuring classroom lessons and facilitating dialogue so that they ask the right questions at the right time. The process enables the teacher to be truly supported in the role of facilitator and provides an opportunity for unique expression by each student, which leads to differentiated instruction.
"With BuildToExpress, my struggling math students create structures to represent how they feel about math," said Jennifer Rising, an elementary classroom teacher at The Nueva School in Hillsborough, CA. "Once students address their attitudes, they show greater focus and attention later during math instruction."
Article by Jason Tomaszewski, EducationWorld Associate Editor
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