LEGO! Design Our Future Innovations

Funded Aug 30, 2024

Thank you so much for sponsoring my Lego Chemistry project! The lego bricks provide valuable hands on opportunities for students to learn science. Students look forward to when legos are included in the science lesson. I am also finding new ways to incorporate legos into continued STEM related science activities.

When the boxes arrived and students saw the bright colored legos they were so excited to start building. It brought back the happy childhood memories of when they played with legos. Now the students were getting to use legos in their science lesson and they couldn't wait! In the first lesson, students used the legos to learn about elements, compounds and mixtures. The activity focused on them learning how to differentiate between them. In a follow up lesson students used legos in building compounds. Students were able to use the legos to connect (bonding) with color. In this lesson students were provided compounds to build and students were engaged immediately. With legos students had a comfort level and didn't hesitate to try.

As I continue to develop science lessons I find ways for students to have a hands on component with the legos. In an introduction to space lesson, students were given a creative engineering component to build a rocket for space travel or a land rover space craft to imagine, design and create. The students loved this project. They immediately began and were engaged. They put so much time into building that we had to turn it into a two day class activity. The lesson included after the build to write a creative story to explain where their rocket would take them and what did they expect to find once they got there.

I have also used the legos with my homeroom for students to engineer their name from the lego blocks. It requires them to think about how they can construct various letters. They all come out so unique and students were helping fellow students with the engineering component so that the letters could stand on their own. It was creative because students could design the look and also the choice of colors to personalize their name.

What I am finding is that creative play with legos in science helps students to have a growth mind set of trying new things and to learn how to work together in engineering new ideas and also connect fun to science. I have seen students who normally not be engaged in the learning excelling when legos are used. I want to let you know that your generosity in purchasing multiple sets of lego has had a huge impact on my students learning about science.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Borchardt-Chocek