Full title: Constructive Play: Lego for learning in history, heritage and beyond
Project leaders: Dr Jamie Wood and Dr Katherine Fennelly (University of Lincoln)
Context: Prior to beginning the project, we had found that Lego can prove particularly useful for starter and plenary activities, enthusing students with a ‘fun’ and creative activity at the beginning of class and/or encouraging them to think abstractly at its end. This small project sought to to explore the potential of play to support student learning in and beyond the School of History and Heritage. Lego Serious Play was used to address two related challenges faced by students: (a) to encourage students to move beyond the specific details of their historical learning and instead to engage in more abstract and creative thinking about their studies; and (b) to enable those students who we noticed as benefitting from working physically with the Lego, enabling them to visualise their learning in a very concrete way.
Process
- We held three lunchtime sandpit sessions for colleagues in the College of Arts;
- We loaned Lego to colleagues in the College, asking them to fill in a brief feedback form when they had done so;
- We produced two blog posts and a case study summing up the findings of the project.
- We presented our findings at the College of Arts’ Festival of Creativity in 2019.
Dissemination
- Wood, J. and Fennelly, K. (2019). Constructive Play: Lego for learning in history, heritage and beyond. School of Humanities and Heritage blog (University of Lincoln).
- Wood, J. and Fennelly, K. (2019). Lego in the sandpit. School of Humanities and Heritage blog (University of Lincoln).
- Wood, J. and Fennelly, K. (2019). Constructive Play: Lego for Learning in History, Heritage and Beyond. Lincoln Academy of Learning and Teaching case study (University of Lincoln).