Who Needs Lego Robotics in their Classroom? WEDO 2.0

The LEGO WeDo 2.0 core set from LEGO Education, combines hands on experimentation with innovative investigation. This engaging learner product is a fun way to integrate technology tools into any learning environment. With LEGO Wedo 2.0, there are over 40 hours of cross curricular content packed into the WeDo software. LEGO WeDo 2.0 is a great way to spark learner curiosity in STEAM education.

STEAM Fosters Curiosity

STEAM is a fairly new acronym in education that is used to describe how subjects are combined into one educational environment. STEAM represents science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics and is a progression from the formerly used acronym STEM. The A in the acronym was added in recent years as a way to recognize the art component. “Incorporating the A in STEAM—art—brings in personal expression, empathy, meaning-making and the purpose of what you’re learning,” explains Dr. Kristin Cook, associate Dean of Bellarmine’s Annsley Frazier Thornton School of Education and longtime science educator. She added, “It’s the humanizing piece of transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary instruction” (Thomas, 2020). Lego WeDo 2.0 incorporates the disciplines of personal expression, empathy, and more into their engaging learner product. Students can be expressive while they are learning with Lego WeDo by adding in personal touches and unique pieces to their builds. This facilitates an added curiosity and relevance to the individual learners as students work on the soft skills, they so desperately need. Students work together and show great interest in their work while using these products.

Results show that the digital art and STEAM education can give the youth knowledge about how the technology is created and then express themselves through the art, which leads us to the conclusion that the LEGO brand indeed can support the creative and critical thinking. (Prezhdarova, V., & Pastarmadzhieva, D., 2020). The LEGO WeDo set is full of vibrant colors, moving pieces, motors, and access to an intuitive app that you can download on your favorite learning device. Students become increasingly curious in STEAM as they explore the differentiated methods the kit provides. LEGO WeDo 2.0 is a perfect example of how technology can help educators increase student curiosity and integrate a STEAM based curriculum into their lessons. When educators relate lessons to real-world problem-solving skills by using built in WeDo 2.0 STEAM curriculum, students realize that they are playing in a meaningful way towards their learning goals. Increased motivation happens when the knowledge to be learned is perceived to be meaningfully related to one's goals (Reiser, R. A., Dempsey, J. V. (2018). With LEGO WeDo 2.0, students become curious how things work and they will are able to explore new ways to achieve learning outcomes.

Curiosity is a Motivator

With its intuitive graphics, iPad integration, engaging lessons, cute characters, and science content, the LEGO WeDo 2.0 sparks curiosity in learners and motivates them towards success. Curiosity has been described as an intrinsic motivation to explore the environment (Harlow, Harlow & Meyer, 1950), a need to make sense of the world (Chen, Stotland & Wolfe, 1955), and a motive to reduce negative states evoked by uncertainty, novelty, arousal or information gaps (Berlyne, 1954; Hebb, 1955; Loewenstein, 1994). A student having real curiosity fuels the fire in learning and LEGO Education has discovered creative ways for students of all ages to explore. Cultivating curiosity is especially helpful at a young age as we educate the creative thinkers of tomorrow. For example, by giving them the knowledge and tools they need to foster their ideas, they are more apt to be motivated to learn. Recent studies have shown that young adults better remember factual information they are curious about (Galli, G., et. Al 2018).

When Sophie von Stumm, who runs the Hungry Mind Lab at Goldsmiths, University of London, was asked about how curiosity affects learning, she stated that she “firmly believed that intellectual curiosity is a pillar of academic performance, alongside intelligence and effort” (Sutton, J., 2016). Others have gone on to say that curiosity may even be a higher indicator of learner achievement. Some researchers have stated that curiosity is a strong predictor of academic achievement, even stronger than intelligence (Von Stumm, Hell & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2011). All of these ideas prove the need for teachers to foster a real curiosity and creativity in the minds of their students. It is imperative that educators use tools and incorporate lessons that allow students to truly learn. Motivation to learn is promoted when a learner’s curiosity is aroused due to a perceived gap in current knowledge (Reiser, R. A., Dempsey, J. V., 2018).

Curiosity Builds Confidence

The LEGO brand is way more than just building with bricks, these bricks can also help students build confidence. The LEGO WeDo 2.0 set combines the familiar LEGO bricks students love, with a smart brick, motors, sensors, and engaging software. These new tools bolster curiosity as children and adults explore new ways to accomplish learning outcomes. If we approach new learning from a place of curiosity, as opposed to a place of demanding expectations, we’re more likely to dive in and tackle a trial & error experience without the fear of failure hovering over us (Breeze, 2018).

LEGO Education and the WeDo 2.0 are the perfect choice to help build confidence for students year after year. Since it consists of interchangeable LEGO bricks, a medium that most students are familiar with, students can relate to the look and feel of the product before diving into the lesson. Once a student has confidence and believes he can succeed in mastering the learning task, motivation to learn will take place (Reiser, R. A., Dempsey, J. V., 2018).

Curiosity with LEGO leads to Robotics

The term LEGO derives from the Danish word leg godt, or play well. Only later did the company’s founder, Ole Kirk Christiansen, realize that the word is also derived from the Latin for “I study”, or “I put together” (Pirrie, A., 2017). LEGO WeDo 2.0 is an excellent representation of the LEGO Education brand and the meaning of the word. Students are able to put together their ideas, play with their friends and peers, and have fun learning about educational robots. These exploration events helps them explore their curiosity in programming robotics to move, make sounds, and accomplish fun tasks. This helps drive motivation in learning to new heights.

The idea of using LEGO and robots in education emerged with the studies of Seymour Papert, the founder of the Logo programming language (Papert, 1980). When Papert observed students as they were engaged in their LEGO robotics lessons, he explained that the students were learning by playing with toys in a very sophisticated way and that knowledge is a unified thing. (MIT Media Lab, 2016) Being among the first, Papert came to recognize the revolutionary potential of computers in education. In the late 1960s, at a time when computers cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, Papert came up with the idea for Logo, the first programming language for children (Lab, 2016). He went on to work with LEGO Education which used ideals from his book, Mindstorms, to create the LEGO Mindstorms educational system using his book title as the name of their product. The LEGO Mindstorms product is still being used today in classrooms and competitions all over the world.

The emerging “Educational Robotics” field has become an integral part of the engineering and science education process in particular (Usengül, L., & Bahçeci, F., 2020). There is a worldwide organization dedicated to robotics education and Lego Robotics being used in competitions. This organization is called F.I.R.S.T. and the acronym stands For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. It is a nonprofit organization that was founded by Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway. F.I.R.S.T.’s mission is to have a global robotics community that is preparing young people for the future (F.I.R.S.T. Inspires 2020).

In their study conducted on the effect of robotics education on science course, Şenol and Büyük (2015) concluded that the students in the experimental group were more successful in scientific process skills test compared to the control group. They stated that although robotics education was not directly related to academic achievement, it was significantly related to scientific process skills and motivation (Usengül, L., & Bahçeci, F., 2020). As you can see, using tools such as robotics and the LEGO WeDo kit, teachers can motivate and reach even the most reluctant learner.

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References

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