Mr Liam Isaac
Head of Enterprise, Engineering and Technology
There are so many reasons why LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) is a fantastic educational tool. Here I will focus on just three that I feel are particularly relevant, based on current trends in education.
‘Everyone builds, everyone shares’; this is a driving principle in LSP. In other words, every learner shares their thinking with the group when using this process.
In the context of education, this is huge. This engagement can be sometimes very difficult to achieve in a typical environment for various reasons, such as established hierarchies, different languages, cultural norms, learning needs, and personality types.
Using LSP affords our pupils affords an equitable opportunity to share their thinking and be heard. It also gives everyone the opportunity to challenge their own opinions based on those of their peers.
An essential requirement for mutual respect and the productive exchange of ideas is tolerance for the opinions, beliefs and values of those who may not share the same views.
There is an in-built focus on active listening, with learners often asked to recap and summarise the ideas of others. This ensures that participants must truly listen, hear and understand the stories that their peers choose to share.
In a typical classroom setting, this can prove challenging, with students often eager to share their own ideas, whilst not fully appreciating those of their peers. LSP challenges this default, and as one student put it: “Having to recap others’ ideas required me to listen more intently to what they were actually saying. This meant that I better understood how other people thought and felt differently to me.”
One significant benefit of LSP is that it distances participants from the ideas they are sharing. By allowing the model - rather than the individual - to take centre stage, participants are less guarded about sharing potentially controversial ideas. This shift in focus can be particularly powerful when students are exploring sensitive issues, something that can be incredibly challenging for status-aware teenagers.
We are exploring opportunities for how LSP might enhance our Wellbeing Programme. We are excited about how this process will give students greater opportunities to explore issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in a safe, accessible and democratic manner.
We also aim to expose more teaching staff to the process so that they can choose to use it with their students where appropriate.
Finally, we hope to use LEGO Serious Play to better connect with our wider school community; offering parents, carers and families the opportunity to gain insight and co-create ideas for how we can better prepare our students to embody CLC’s values.
31st August 2022
