Lego Icebreaker Exercise to Introduce Thinking with Things
Overview
A classroom icebreaker with Lego, to introduce students to each other and to the instructor. A playful way to start to get to know your students and seed a constructive classroom culture.
Overview
This brief Lego exercise is a fun way for students to introduce themselves to others in the class, and to the instructor. By asking students to build, then describe what they have built, the self-consciousness of first day intros can be reduced by adding an element of play.
Discipline
ALL. Instructors in all disciplines can use this exercise.
Learning Objectives
1. Students and Instructor learn a little bit about each student in the class.
2. Students reflect on how and where they learn best.
3. Students are introduced to a classroom culture that values exploration, hearing all voices, and playfulness.
Class Size Range
Probably a minimum of 5 students; no maximum. The only requirement is to have enough Lego bricks for each student to build with.
Time Needed
Distributing Lego: 2-5 minutes
Instructing students and giving prompt: 1 minute
Students build with Lego: 5 minutes (or can be as little as 4)
Process/discuss: Students report on what they built, for an average of 30 seconds per student. Can be followed by general discussion and observations about themes etc.
Materials Needed
This exercise requires enough Lego "bricks" for each student to have a minimum of 12 bricks each, and at least 30 bricks is much better.
The bricks can be of varied size and shape, and do not need to be identical for each student. I tend to avoid bricks in specialized shapes and also the humanoid minifigures since these are less versatile.
Sets of bricks can be stored in plastic baggies, or in a big bin where each student grabs a handful.
It is preferable but not essential for students to have some sort of solid surface in front of them. A table is ideal but a chair with a tablet arm, or even a notebook held on a lap, can work.
Lesson Instructions
Steps:
- Instructor tells students that they are going to do a brief excercise using Lego. Have students take their Lego bag or handful and place it in front of them. (1-2 minutes)
- Instructor gives students a prompt. For example, "build something that will help you tell us about your favorite learning environment." (See below for examples of other prompts.) Tell students they have 5 minutes (4 minutes can also be enough). Any questions?
- About 30 seconds in, if you see some students hesitating, you can say something like, "Don't overthink this...just dive in!" Students don't have to make a model; they can do something abstract that suggests a mood or an idea.
- When there is 1 minute left, give a one minute warning. Some students will already have finished. Tell the others that it is ok if they don't finish--whatever they tell us their construction is, we will believe!
- When time is up, all students stop building.
- To debrief, have each student tell others what they built, in a sentence or two. If the group is small enough to have everyone speak to the whole group, that is great. If not, they can tell others in a small group. A group of 6-8 is ideal but in a lecture hall or other challenging space, they may be able to tell only 2-4 other students. How you handle the debrief is partly a matter of how much time you have.
- At some point, tell students that they must disassemble their construction, but you can invite them to take out their phone and take a photo of before disassembling.
- Ask the students, or based on your own observations, are there any themes that emerge? For favorite learning environments, these might be comfort (studying in bed or an easy chair), access to daylight or nature (a window, a yard, a favorite tree), or companionship (studying with others or with a pet nearby).
- [Optional, for this example prompt] Have students consider one feasible thing they can do to make their learning environment better.
This simple exercise can work with many different prompts. Over time, I have tried several, such as "build a self portrait of you, ten years from now;" "make something that represents an important (social, economic, engineering, etc) problem that you care about;" "what one thing do you most want to have in your learning environment?;" "build something that will help you tell us about one thing we would not know about you just by looking at you." There are lots of icebreaker and discipline-related questions that can be put to use in this exercise.