Sandy Garner from Otago University hosted the Lego Education Conference in March . The special guest was Chris Rogers from Tufts University in USA. Chris was a great presenter and so much of what he had to say resonated with my philosophy of how learning happens best.
Key ideas from the presentation included:
What is the ultimate teaching goal?
1. Curiosity (why?)
2. Passion for finding answers (learning)
3. Test validity of answers (reflection)
4. self-confidence (transfer)
How do we make it happen?
Want:
Need:
Key ideas from the presentation included:
What is the ultimate teaching goal?
1. Curiosity (why?)
2. Passion for finding answers (learning)
3. Test validity of answers (reflection)
4. self-confidence (transfer)
How do we make it happen?
Want:
- innovation
- creativity
- leadership
- problem solving
Need:
- messy problems
- failure & resilience
- diversity of solutions
- team work
For me, if we can make all of the above happen in a classroom, we're pretty much nailing it.
Of course, much of the day was about the Lego product and Modern Teaching Aids provided us with a bag of Lego to play with on the day and then take away. Yay!
With the items in our bag our first challenge was to create something 'Kiwi'. It was a good ice breaker and showed how many different ideas came out of the same equipment and the same problem:
Of course, much of the day was about the Lego product and Modern Teaching Aids provided us with a bag of Lego to play with on the day and then take away. Yay!
With the items in our bag our first challenge was to create something 'Kiwi'. It was a good ice breaker and showed how many different ideas came out of the same equipment and the same problem:
In the collection of Kiwiana was a gate opener for sheep so Roger leveraged well off that and set us the challenge to work in pairs, using motors, to create a gate which would open & close automatically. People's designs were very clever using motors and sensors. When I saw what others had created, I automatically thought about ways I could piggy-back off their ideas to improve my own. In this situation we didn't have time but I believe in a classroom situation it's important for the kids to make iterations to their designs by learning from others.
Our next challenge was to create a moving robot without using wheels. People's designs were incredibly variable in both creativity and success in meeting the brief. There was a high level of engagement when the robots had a race and then when there was a tug-of-war tournament. High engagement, excellent problem solving, lots of opportunities to iterate. Fab!
Our next challenge was to create a moving robot without using wheels. People's designs were incredibly variable in both creativity and success in meeting the brief. There was a high level of engagement when the robots had a race and then when there was a tug-of-war tournament. High engagement, excellent problem solving, lots of opportunities to iterate. Fab!