READ CONTENT IN CATALAN
Recent years have been fraught with challenges for teachers, since the needs of students and educational centers change rapidly, and the same speed of adaptation is demanded of them. Due to the evolution of the digitization of classrooms and to the fact that STEAM subjects are becoming a growing priority to provide future guarantees for students, teachers need tools that integrate seamlessly into their classrooms and reinforce the results in a way quick.
LEGO® Education has spent more than 40 years developing solutions and resources to support teachers in their work to make the classroom a living space for STEAM subjects and for their students through hands-on and directed play. LEGOEducation, through STEAM lessons consistent with the curricular contents and with the help of LEGO® products, provides students with the opportunity to get down to work and re-engage in their learning with interest. Also, with the new EU funds available for schools and educators, it is much easier to incorporate the LEGO learning system into the classroom.
Right now, teachers and schools are focused on ensuring that students acquire the STEAM skills necessary to enter the job market in the future. According to the Education Commission, it is estimated that, by 2030, more than half of the world's children (800 million) will not have the necessary skills or qualifications to be part of the new workforce.
This gap is already being bridged with European funds in a large part of the Spanish territory. However, teachers, and primary school teachers in particular, can feel overwhelmed or lack confidence when they have to teach subjects that are new to them, such as Computer Science, or work on skills such as programming. Classroom time is limited and they are under significant pressure to ensure that they have covered all the essential elements of the curriculum. Teachers must find the right methods and tools to teach key concepts in the most engaging way for students.
A proven and easy way to teach STEAM concepts is through a playful, hands-on approach. The LEGO Foundation has observed that when teachers bring play into the classroom, it allows students to satisfy the basic human need to express their own imagination, curiosity and creativity, key resources in a knowledge-based world (Unicef, 2018). . These experiences are the building blocks of future 21st century skills. Learning through play not only manages to develop essential skills, it also promotes meaningful participation, which increases students' motivation and commitment to learning.
In addition to dealing with the post-pandemic recovery, the EU emphasizes the need to invest in the future of education in the report European Framework for the digital competence of educators: DigCompEdu. This new framework for early childhood educators and all other educational levels focuses on the rapidly evolving demands of the profession. It also highlights that, in order to use digital technologies in the classroom, educators should first be confident in their own abilities.
Boosting this self-confidence among educators is one of the reasons why LEGOEducation has created training courses and tools to put this type of teaching into practice in the classroom and empower each teacher to help their students not only get by but to progress.
This is done through the use of the LEGO®LearningSystem, an interconnected system of STEAM learning tools for primary and secondary students. Curriculum-aligned lessons are hands-on and playful, incorporating future-focused skills (such as robotics and coding) that allow students to develop important STEAM skills and reinvigorate their interest in learning. At LEGOEducation, all ready-to-use teaching units are available to teachers free of charge. With this research-backed learning system, abstract concepts become tangible as students move from simple explorations to increasingly complex real-world challenges.
The LEGOLearningSystem helps alleviate the added pressure on teachers in today's classrooms to incorporate STEAM and digital skills into their daily lessons by providing them with an accessible solution for STEAM learning. Although the idea of bringing robotics or programming into the classroom may seem daunting, teachers don't have to be tech savvy to apply these solutions. The LEGOLearningSystem is based on content developed on the web or in easily accessible apps that are combined with easily recognizable LEGO® bricks and building elements.
Not only students develop their skills. Teachers will learn effective ways to implement STEAM learning in the classroom with the right level of support. They will be able to contact official LEGOEducation distributors and arrange certified training courses, where they will receive basic knowledge, become familiar with the product and gain hands-on experience. In these instructor-led courses, teachers will master the skills necessary to facilitate project-based learning and manage lessons and materials.
In addition to training courses, all LEGOLearningSystem solutions have materials available online that help teachers guide their students through each lesson, sparking their creativity and critical thinking. This focused approach to professional development allows teachers to feel more confident in their own STEAM capabilities because LEGOEducation is with them every step of the way. If we have confident teachers, we can educate self-confident students.
The LEGOLearningSystem is not only easy to implement, but also a cost-effective and scalable way to develop STEAM skills for students of all grades. The easy integration of the LEGOLearningSystem into the classroom or school, along with the support of built-in pedagogical scaffolding, enables teachers to confidently focus on students and drive success in learning outcomes.
Designed to be shared between 2-3 students, these kits will also teach important skills like collaboration and communication as they work together to solve problems. Learners will grow with the LEGOLearningSystem as they progress through the grades, regaining the familiarity and consistency they have lost with disruptions to their learning due to pandemic disruptions. LEGOEducation solutions will provide playful and hands-on learning opportunities for many years to come.
Even as teachers are faced with the task of delivering increasingly complex and digital curricular content, LEGOEducation provides a seamless and easy way to bring STEAM concepts into the classroom. With the popularity of the LEGO brick and the wealth of online and support resources available to teachers, STEAM learning will soon take place in the classroom.
