Lego education

Lego is a beloved toy company that has inspired generations of kids to use their own creativity while exploring and building. Now, Lego is going a step beyond by creating products for educators to use in the classroom to harness their students’ creativity while fulfilling their learning objectives. Lego has kits designed for every grade from Pre-K all the way up to high school. Along with these kits are a number of free lesson plans that can be accessed by educators. Let’s explore their online portal that contains these lessons!

Resource and teacher support

After navigating to Lego Education, educators will be able to search for lessons by product, grade level, or subject area. Lego has lessons focused on a number of subjects including the Arts/Design, STEM/STEAM, creative discovery, and even on developing social-emotional learning (SEL) for students. If you have something specific in mind, there is also a keyword search field in the upper right-hand side of the screen.

Learning about simple machines

Here’s an example of a great Lego lesson category. Search for “simple machines” and you’ll see there are numerous lessons on how to teach this topic with Legos. One, in particular, that teaches students how to design a solution using a simple machine is called “Make a Simple Machine to Move Something.” In this lesson, students are encouraged to design using Legos and craft materials.

All lessons have a step-by-step process for teachers to follow in addition to some teacher support resources. We can see the objectives of this lesson, what materials we need in addition to the Lego set, other online resources to consult, and any standards that the lesson will address — like NGSS, Disciplinary Core Ideas, Common Core Standards, and Mathematics Standards. Additionally, there’s a student worksheet that guides students through the design process. There’s also a self-assessment that encourages students to reflect on their design and take ownership of their final product.

The lessons are organized in a scope and sequence and can be used to teach an entire unit. For example, for high school students preparing for college, there’s an in-depth sequence on designing automated factory equipment. First, students work on creating a factory conveyor system. Then, they move on to designing a pick and place robot. Finally, they finish the project by creating an automated sorting machine!

Design challenges, project-based learning, and more

Lego is committed to providing meaningful educational experiences for students around the world. By having our students design and build solutions to challenges, we as educators are preparing them for future careers. We’re also encouraging them to take ownership of their own learning. Here at Teq, we are also committed to inspiring student creativity and critical thinking through iBlocks, our cross-curricular PBL solution that enables students to invent, explore, and build important future-ready skills.