Schools choose LEGO Education hands-on learning solutions
For National STEAM Day, LEGO ® Education is spotlighting schools across the country that are introducing handson learning solutions to build their students’ interest and confidence in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. Together with these school leaders and educators, LEGO Education aims to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow by enabling every student to succeed.
“On National STEAM Day, we’re thrilled to showcase some of the exceptional schools and educators who are going above and beyond to provide their students with engaging classroom opportunities that inspire and grow their interest in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math,” said Silver McDonald, head of LEGO Education North America. “By using hands-on LEGO Education learning solutions, these students are getting excited about STEAM while building confidence that equips them for future jobs and inspires them to dream of a big future.”
According to the US Department of Education, the total number of STEAM related jobs in the U.S. will increase by 14 percent over the course of a decade. The below school leaders and educators are just a few in the U.S. who are incorporating STEAM learning into their curriculum to ensure their students are learning critical 21 st century skills.
Stanley Mosk STEAM School/ Magnet Center (Los Angeles Unified School District)
Stanley Mosk STEAM School/Magnet’s mission is to inspire their students to be innovative thinkers. To help achieve this goal for all students, Jodi Harrison, principal, chose LEGO Education solutions to challenge students to think creatively and critically and facilitate engineering learning across grade levels. Through unique lesson plans, like using LEGO Education solutions to create stop motion videos that promote kindness and anti-bullying, students engage in 21 st century learning skills through an integrated curriculum approach.
Andrew Cooke Magnet School (Waukegan Community Unit School District 60)
Rebecca Voight, STEM and Drama teacher, chose LEGO Education Early Simple Machines, Simple and Powered Machines, STEAM Park, WeDo 2.0 and MINDSTORMS ® Education EV3 for her students from kindergarten through fifth grade. Across every grade level, Rebecca combines her drama classes with STEAM lessons, encouraging her students to incorporate a lesson they learned from drama class, whether dance or music, into their learning. Voight says, “The students preexisting familiarity with LEGO helps excite them from the beginning of the lesson. It allows them to incorporate what they learn in the classroom into hands-on play at home. They’re excited to learn and think to themselves: ‘if I can do this with LEGO, what can I do next?’”
Sessions Elementary School (San Diego Unified School District)
School leaders and educators at Sessions Elementary are dedicated to implementing a curriculum that focuses on challenge-based learning and encouraging student to master realworld problem solving. Adam Foster Carlin, principal, chose LEGO Education solutions to support this focus, and the partnership has successfully given students opportunities that strengthen STEAM learning skills like design thinking, creativity, problem solving and communication. Carlin says, “LEGO Education has allowed our students to demonstrate their knowledge in creative ways. The materials, combined with the STEAM curriculum, keeps students engaged and provides unique learning opportunities that are studentcentered. I have seen students build models, adapt and manipulate their designs, and display genuine excitement when explaining their thinking. Students at Sessions are now provided daily opportunities to actively become leaders and participants in the world they live in by collectively working through problem solving activities utilizing LEGO Education.”
Consolidated School District of New Britain
Jenn Wright, facilitator of STEAM and Summer Programming for Consolidated School District of New Britain, sought to start their new integrated STEAM curriculum with LEGO Education solutions WeDo 2.0 and MINDSTORMS Education EV3. Wright says, “LEGO Education tools are versatile solutions that help us get every student at every level involved in STEAM learning. Our main goal is to teach students 21 st century skills, like critical thinking and problem solving, and LEGO Education tools have the flexibility to adjust lesson plans to match each student’s skill set.”
Jesse Bobo Elementary School (Spartanburg County School District 06)
Alisha Bridges, LEGO lead teacher for kindergarten through fifth grade, uses a variety of LEGO Education solutions to ensure her students are learning the 21 st century skills necessary for the future workforce. Alisha leads a LEGO Lab across grade levels and chose WeDo 2.0 to provide her students with a tool that seamlessly integrates each part of STEAM learning into one lesson plan. Bridges says “WeDo 2.0 is the best solution for my students because it gives them a real-world scenario where they learn the critical thinking skills they’ll need in the future. The product seamlessly connects all parts of STEAM and integrates creativity through model design. This is what my students really love about LEGO; it gives them a creative outlet for selfexpression.”
Mountain View Elementary School (Anchorage School District)
Marcy Richards, who leads the STEAM curriculum for elementary students as Anchorage School District’s 21st Century program manager (the most diverse district in the country), chooses LEGO Education solutions WeDo 2.0 and MINDSTORMS Education EV3 to help her students with English as a second language and develop critical STEAM skills. Richards says “Watching my students build robots with LEGO Education is amazing because many of them are working to develop English language skills. Despite language differences in the classroom, the students can still participate in the lesson plans with the picture instruction. They learn crucial teamwork and communications skills this way and it makes an incredible difference.
Hillsborough County Public Schools
Larry Plank, Ed.S. director of kindergarten through twelfth grade Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics Education and Shauna Tirado, Elementary Science supervisor, choose LEGO Education solutions to serve as the foundational element to teach students coding, robotics and computer science districtwide. Hillsborough County Schools have a dedicated kindergarten through fifth grade plan using LEGO Education solutions like WeDo 2.0 to teach students foundational skills that prepare them for middle school. Plank says, “LEGO Education tools teach our students the fundamental concepts needed for their educational growth as they progress through each grade. Across our district, LEGO learning helps them build upon prior knowledge and apply it, creating a strong understanding of concepts to prep them for middle school and beyond.”
Greenwood Elementary School (Waukegan Community Unit School District 60)
Maryann Lukos, kindergarten through fifth grade STEM teacher, challenges her fifth-grade students each year with an entrepreneur project where they are tasked to pick a problem in the world and design the solution. Using LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3, her students effectively and creatively identify problems and use critical thinking skills to develop a solution for the project. Lukos says, “With LEGO Education tools, my students immediately become more engaged with the task at hand. They take ownership of the lessons and learn valuable skills like collaboration and creativity to complete the project.”
Discover these stories and many more classrooms engaging students through hands-on learning at LEGOeducation.com/ stories. For STEAM inspiration, LEGO Education lesson plans and more information on how to implement LEGO Education’s handson learning solutions in your school, visit LEGOeducation.com. About LEGO Education: From early learning to middle school and beyond, LEGO Education provides hands-on learning solutions that engage every student’s natural curiosity and helps them develop the skills and confidence they’ll need in the future.