Manne Garon-Buffery, Placement Coordinator to Level 5 Design & Engineering students, shares her experience of using Lego for the first time.
CEL has boxes of Lego for short term loan for teaching and training, please contact Curie Scott
Level 5 Design & Engineering includes four cohorts totalling 190 students studying Product Design, Industrial Design, Design Engineering and MEng Mechanical Engineering. During the first term I hold a series of optional lectures once a week for a period of 12 weeks. I recently ran a two hour session about assessment centres. My aim was to deliver a talk that communicated information in a succinct yet active manner. How was this achieved? How did I convey these details in an interesting fashion? Why, LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY of course!
Assessment Centres can vary from or include a combination of ability tests, case studies, group exercises, presentations, personality questionnaires and social activities. Group exercises are very common in design & engineering, so, as a way of introducing assessment centres to this specific cohort of students, I focussed on creating six different 15 minute mini group exercises including a presentation.
Groups one and two considered the significance of Project Management, by handling the aftermath of an extra-terrestrial disaster in which a space craft collided with a cruise liner leaving passengers stranded with limited life boats, another group tackled the value of efficient communication by having to describe to non-earthling speaking aliens, who have crash landed on earth, i.e. extra-terrestrial disaster, how to put on a shoe, a fourth group worked on creativity by designing a biological being, what it looked like, what it sounded like, etc, the fifth and sixth groups further focussed on communication, listening skills and team work with a spaceship building exercise using Lego. These teams, of roughly 10 students each, were requested to stand back to back and verbally communicate their approach and how they would design and shape their space craft. Following this, now face to face, they assembled their flying ship without speaking. It was noticeable how engaged they were at the prospect of playing with Lego and this is what they created in a 15 minute period.
This was my first time working with Lego. For this workshop I had designed six varying activities, not all used Lego, as I was looking to provide an opportunity for students to have a glimpse into assessment centres, to provide them with an environment where they could share and learn valuable skills from each other. For future practice, especially with Design & Engineering students, I would most definitely consider running all six activities around the use of Lego, especially after seeing students faces light up at the sight of a giant box of Lego.
Read about another example of Lego Serious Play in Education, by Tauheed Ramjaun here
CEL has boxes of Lego for short term loan for teaching and training, please contact Curie Scott
