Legos part of the educational landscape

By Tim Goodwin - Oct 22, 2013 | 0 comments

Last week’s lesson taught students about different kinds of energy. Next week’s will center around how to use Legos to do homework

Sebastian Nichols and James Russell go for the same Lego during the windmill day, while William Chorlian sneaks in to grab the perfect one.

Instructor John Hall helps Reese and Ava Philbrook perfect their windmill that pushed a tissue so fast that it put a hole in the wall of the classroom the program was held in (note: possible exaggeration).

We all remember the good ol’ days, sitting on the family couch playing with buckets upon buckets of Legos, spending hours on a single project and the feeling you got when the final piece fit into place to complete that most amazing creation.

It brought us all a sense of accomplishment, and we wanted to share with just about anyone who would listen.

And the people involved with the LEtGO Your Mind after school program use that passion and excitement to their advantage.

The theme of the program is centered around building stuff with Legos, which quickly grabs the attention of the students, but done in a way that incorporates learning with every snap.

Students have built motorized windmills, cars and tops in the hour-long program at the Christa McAuliffe School, and that is just in the first three weeks.

The program is held Monday through Wednesday after school for a total of five weeks, and this week a standard kitchen mixer can be added to the list.

“We make things that are in the house,” said Jim Harvey, creator of LEtGO Your Mind. “We look at simple machines in the real world and brainstorm how to create them with Legos.”

There have been races and battles among the 17 students in grades first through fifth, but it isn’t about which one comes out on top. It comes down to what the students learn.

Using something that all children love to play with, the program has found a unique way to teach the basic STEM principles (science, technology, engineering and math).

“It’s really great to see that being applied through Legos,” said John Hall, an instructor for LEtGO Your Mind who works in the special education program at Concord High School. “And every time we meet we do something different.”

The goal is to challenge the students to think creatively and problem solve, while working as part of a team. But the best part is that it almost never feels like a typical learning environment. LEtGO Your Mind has added the element of fun to the learning experience and so far it has worked.

“How they actually get you to learn stuff is what I like the best,” said Rigel Velez, who is in first grade at the school.

There is no watching the clock, twiddling of the thumbs or random drawings on scrap paper. That’s because it feels a little more like play time than anything associated with school and the students look forward to it. And by using Legos, the student get a chance to try new things throughout the project.

“The good thing about Legos is that when they break, you can put them back together,” said Ava Philbrook, a second-grader at Christa McAuliffe.

The point of the program is fun, but also have that twist of learning involved.

“All the while they’re learning about these science terms,” said Hall. “You definitely see them improvising. The things the kids can build is spectacular.”

On Wednesday, the lesson plan focused on sources of power, with wind being the focal point. The students, under the direction and guidance of Hall, built windmills using various gears, axles and Lego pieces and of course, a motor.

“We take a life object and come up with a way to make it with Legos,” said Hall. “It’s a different way of thinking.”

Over the course of one-hour, the students were charged with building a functioning windmill that would push a tissue across a table. Each session generally ends with a friendly competition, but Wednesday’s class did not, in large part to the time spent on trying to modify and perfect the windmills.

“It’s a hands-on approach, and once they do it by hand, the light bulb goes off,” said Harvey. “They make that connection to the lesson we’re teaching.”

Students quickly show the kind of creative thinking and expansion of skill sets that LEtGO Your Mind hopes to promote.

“My sister had been in Legos and it seemed like she was having fun,” said Philbrook.

For Velez, he has already learned a lot.

“We’ve learned about energy and gravity and about stuff that powers stuff up,” he said.

The program was created by Harvey, and he gives credit to his own children. He didn’t want to see all they had learned go to waste over the summer, so he created LEtGO Your Mind. It started out as a summer program and expanded over the years.

“We don’t just free build. We have lessons that we teach,” said Harvey.

There are summer programs in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont, as well as the after school programs in New Hampshire.

For more information, visit http://letgoyourmind.com.