Hands-on, Play-based STEAM Learning Experiences
LEGO® Education offers hands-on, playful STEAM learning experiences based on the LEGO® system of bricks – through multi-faceted solutions for students and their teachers in early learning, primary, and secondary education as well as through after-school programs and competitions. These solutions create an environment where active, collaborative learners build skills for their future and a lifelong love for learning.
With the most compelling and creative STEAM learning tools of the highest quality, we are facilitating a more lively engagement, higher achievement, and joyful success through hands-on learning. Our goal is to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow, enabling every student to succeed.
Three Promises
Promise #1: Create an irresistible environment where students are inspired and engaged.
Promise #2: Set students up for success along the continuum of early, primary, and secondary learning.
Promise #3: Get everything you need to bring STEAM and playful learning to life in your curriculum, safely and sustainably, for our students and our planet.
We want schools to look to LEGO Education as a way to standardize STEAM and computer science learning. All of our resources are aligned to national standards (NGSS, Computer Science standards), with mapping to state standards in development. We’re working more and more at the administrative/district level to build out long-term plans. Some districts focus all of their learning in a particular area on LEGO Education, while other districts incorporate us as a component. For example, Miami-Dade County Public Schools has partnered with Jackson Health System in an effort to promote critical thinking and 21st century learning skills early, by providing STEAM Park by LEGO Education and LEGO Education Coding Express kits to preschool classrooms at a number of schools.
Connections to Real World Learning Roadmap
Select a roadmap destination to learn more.
Vision
We focus on career and technical education (CTE) and giving kids the skills they need for the real world. The lessons we provide focus on building and problem solving to simulate real world activities. Our goals are to develop students’ higher order thinking skills (including the 4 Cs: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity) and career readiness. Our philosophy is focused on learning through play whether it be in a classroom, a summer camp, after school, or at home.
Implementation: How We Did It
We’re celebrating our 40th anniversary this year. Everything we do is focused on learning through play philosophy and helping every student succeed at STEAM. Since 1998, we’ve partnered with FIRST Robotics to create the FIRST LEGO League, which involves in-school and out-of-school learning experiences and competitions. We’ve partnered with the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) to sponsor competitions since 2004. We established the LEGO Global Education Academy in 2009 and have developed robotics and coding products and programs throughout the 2010s and into 2020.
Related Resources
Community Partners
Curriculum
Measures
Professional Learning
Community Partners
We partner with K-12 districts and provide customization to integrate our products into their curriculum. We also partner with institutions of higher learning, such as Tufts University and the MIT Media Lab, to align our priorities to learning-related research and teacher training programs. In the pilot program, Prescription 4 Play, the LEGO Foundation partners with doctors to encourage patients to do more hands-on activities with babies and very young children to improve their development.
Curriculum
We measure impact in terms of student and teacher confidence. With the Harris Foundation, we conducted a global survey, which revealed that students, parents and teachers all agree that the best way to build confidence in STEAM is working on a hands-on project with others. 89 percent of students said that hands-on learning helps them learn new things, while 87 percent said it helps them retain information. 99 percent of teachers said hands-on learning builds students’ confidence, while 91 percent said they would like to integrate more hands-on lessons in their classrooms.
Measures
We measure impact in terms of student and teacher confidence. With the Harris Foundation, we conducted a global survey, which revealed that students, parents and teachers all agree that the best way to build confidence in STEAM is working on a hands-on project with others. 89 percent of students said that hands-on learning helps them learn new things, while 87 percent said it helps them retain information. 99 percent of teachers said hands-on learning builds students’ confidence, while 91 percent said they would like to integrate more hands-on lessons in their classrooms.
The LEGO Group is a tight-knit company, woven together by the fundamental belief that children are our role models. We value their natural hands-on, minds-on approach to learning and the insight it brings to the process, potential, and promise of 21st century education. Our commitment to this belief is carried forward by the LEGO Foundation by demonstrating and documenting the transformative power of play throughout life. It is carried forward by the LEGO Group through leadership in quality products and experiences that stimulate creativity, imagination, fun, and learning. And it is carried forward by the LEGO® Education business unit, through classroom and after-school resources that enable educators to become genuine facilitators of open-ended, success-building learning processes.
Professional Learning
Most of our PD is currently in-person (one facilitator for 15-20 teachers, one day or multiple days). We conduct workshops at national, regional, and local events, some of which help teachers earn certification credits. We also offer informal ongoing coaching to district partners, as needed. We’re looking at developing more online resources. Our Resource page offers free lessons, online apps, and tech support for educators.
Support Structures
We work with DonorsChoose to help classrooms purchase our products. FIRST Robotics provides access to corporate funding. In terms of space, schools need maker spaces or space in the classroom for project-based learning. Technology is needed for coding (e.g., Chromebooks, IOS-based devices, including tablets), and schools need internet access to connect the LEGO product and device. Because the app is downloaded, there are no data privacy issues and data is not captured or shared.
The Future of this Work
Because we’re focused on responding to school and educator needs, we provide a lot of customization at the district level. We adjust our materials to schools’ needs (e.g., aligning a product and lessons for different grade levels than originally intended). We have a growing focus on CTE and prioritizing career readiness, in addition to college readiness. We want to ensure that we are truly supporting every child, so we have a growing focus on access and equity. Part of this effort is addressed through national and location alliances and partnerships, and focuses on how we can reach kids who might not have access to LEGO in or out of school and encourage their interest in STEM, robotics, and coding.
