This is a sponsored post by LEGO® Education. All opinions are my own.
Today's students will soon go on to shape the future of our society. This is why it is so important that we give them opportunities to play and explore in a variety of ways in order to problem solve, fail and then try again. As educators and parents, we need to help nurture students' self-confidence, perseverance and creativity so they will be willing to tackle the world's challenges by becoming creative innovators.
I was so excited when LEGO® Education reached out to see if I would be interested in working with them on their latest campaign, Rebuild the World.
The new Rebuild the World campaign video really resonates with how I, and I'm sure many others, approach teaching. As educators, we not only want students to master the skills necessary for the future, but we want to engage them, foster their creativity, and encourage them to try new things in order to build their confidence to become lifelong learners.
LEGO® Education sent me the WeDo 2.0, one of their innovative STEM solutions. Through testing out this coding and robotics kit, I got to see first-hand how LEGO® Education's products are designed to encourage students to build, unbuild and rebuild. This iterative process allows students to learn through meaningful failure and build the resilience necessary for a constantly evolving world.
The kit arrived in a blue tub that had all parts organized nicely in plastic bags. I used the white tray that was provided to sort all of the LEGO bricks into their correct labeled compartment. It took some time but I enjoyed getting everything in its place before I started to build. I became familiar with all of the different pieces and the organizer helped speed up the building process.
Next, I downloaded the LEGO Education WeDo 2.0 app to my iPad. This free app works on PCs, Macs, Chromebooks, iPads and Android tablets. Once I launched the app I selected "My First Project" which was building and coding the Glowing Snail. This was a great first project since the app walked me through step by step how to build the snail. I was able to build the snail in about 3 minutes!
Afterwards the app showed me some examples on how I could make it glow and do a variety of other things by creating a coding sequence using the coding blocks. It was fun to make the glowing snail light up different colors and play a sound. I enjoyed exploring making patterns with the blinking lights.
The Glowing Snail building project would be easy enough for a 2nd grader to explore.
After building the snail, I started to delve into the app a little more looking to build something else. I was blown away with all of the amazing project ideas this one kit could cover. Students can build, unbuild and rebuild so many different kinds of structures!
Rebuild the World with LEGO® Education
LEGO® Education's campaign encourages learners to try something new even when they face failure. It motivates learners to understand that they have the potential to have a real world impact. Through purposeful play, students can learn how to be flexible problem-solvers while building their confidence along the way. The excitement and curiosity that LEGO® Education brings to the classroom will help all learners develop essential skills to tackle tomorrow's opportunities. It also helps students discover how science, engineering and math affect their everyday life.
This mission will empower our future leaders to Rebuild the World better than any of us could ever imagine. As educators, we have one of the most important jobs of nurturing students' passions, self-confidence, perseverance and creativity. Therefore, I encourage you to head over to the LEGO® Education's Rebuild the World website campaign page and take a look around!
