Schools Choose Hands-On LEGO® Learning Solutions for STEM Skills Development

LEGO Education celebrates educators and education leaders for creative and innovative classroom learning

BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today LEGO® Education announces that schools around the world are taking advantage of hands-on LEGO learning solutions. Together with these schools, LEGO Education aims to engage every student’s natural curiosity, and helps them develop the skills and confidence they’ll need in the future.

“We are thrilled to celebrate educators and education leaders who are leveraging LEGO Education’s hands-on learning solutions to advance the learning opportunities for their students,” said Silver McDonald, head of LEGO Education North America. “Whether through connecting learning to real-world opportunities or innovation centers, these educators and education leaders are finding creative ways to provide students with the tools they need to make learning inspiring, engaging and effective.”

Below are a few of the US schools, from early learning to high school, that are building their students’ STEM, coding and 21^st century skills by using LEGO Education STEAM Park, LEGO Education WeDo 2.0, LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education EV3 and LEGO Education Simple & Powered Machines. Discover these stories and many more innovative classrooms prioritizing hands-on learning at LEGOeducation.com/stories.

Barrington 220 School District Amps Up STEM Program (Barrington, IL)
Becky Gill, Director of Elementary Education, and Becky McDowell, K-fifth grade STEM teacher, sought to complement their core science curriculum and considered two offerings with LEGO Education’s learning solutions coming out as the winner. McDowell says, “LEGO Education provided the flexibility to modify and add our own content to it. Because programs and standards and other things change and if there’s not as much flexibility, then over time it’s going to become outdated. We’re excited to iterate and improve upon what we’re teaching each year.”

Montour Elementary School Makerspace Inspires Student Makers (Pittsburg, PA)
Montour Elementary School created a Brick Makerspace powered by LEGO Education solutions. The use of LEGO bricks, digital lessons and hands-on robotics fill the learner-centered space giving students opportunities to design, make and think creatively with standards-aligned lessons in science, technology, art, math, language arts, architecture and engineering. “One skill that every kid needs more of is working with their peers,” says Amanda McDermott, teacher at Montour Elementary School. “It is more important for me for a student to come into my room and know how to fail and persevere through a challenge than for a student to come into my room and get something right the first time.”

Primrose Elementary Builds Early STEAM Skills (Burlington, MA)
Danielle Nicholas has created different learning stations around her kindergarten classroom designed to foster STEAM learning. With her guidance, her students create rides for a theme park using LEGO Education STEAM Park. “The children were excited to utilize other materials than just the bricks that come with the set,” says Nicholas. The variety of gears, tracks, pulleys and connecting elements that come with the STEAM Park set allow her students to explore beginner concepts in STEAM.

Making the Connection: Engaging Students with STEM in Title 1 Schools (St Louis, MO)
In Laura Knapp’s K-fifth grade technology class she has limited time and resources. By connecting her students’ projects with their interest areas and engaging them with LEGO learning solutions including LEGO Education Build Me “Emotions,” LEGO Education WeDo 2.0 and LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3, it allows them to move past obstacles in their life as they enter class and ignite their excitement for learning.

Innovation Centers: Designing a Stimulating Learning Environment at McHenry School District (Chicago, IL)
For Fred Laudadio, Executive Director of Learning and Technology, and Kristin Thorsen, Assistant Director of Technology, developing digital and information literacy in students goes beyond the traditional classroom. They’re interested in thinking outside the box to create Innovation Centers – learning spaces that are engaging, collaborative and cross curricular. One of the ways these innovation coaches creatively supplement the core curriculum, while bridging the passion and love for literacy with that of technology and the digital world, is by integrating LEGO Education’s hands-on learning solutions with the broad suite of technology available in the Innovation Centers. “LEGO Education has a huge focus on digital literacy and information literacy,” Laudadio says, adding, “everything that LEGO Education offers is complementary to the core curriculum.”

Connecting Real-World Careers with Simple & Powered Machines at Pasco School District (Pasco, WA)
In Maya Donnelly’s classroom, K-sixth grade students explore the basics of computer science. Her 45-minute robotics class allows for exploration in projects that connect the real world to the classroom. From kindergarten to second grade her students begin coding using LEGO Education WeDo 2.0 with simple computational reasoning programs where they develop their foundational math skills. By the time they reach third grade, her students explore logic blocks and loops in their programming. In sixth grade, they begin experimenting with LEGO Education Simple & Powered Machines and programming with LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3.

For more information on how to implement LEGO Education’s hands-on learning solutions in your school, visit LEGOeducation.com.

About LEGO Education
From preschool to middle school and beyond, LEGO Education provides hands-on, playful learning tools that engage every student’s natural curiosity, and help them develop the skills and confidence they’ll need in the future.