Kids LOVE Lego! And Steam Lab Teacher at Mossy Oaks Elementary School, Amanda Freeman wanted to use this love of Lego in a learning environment to benefit all of the students at her school. Her project, “Let's Build a Wall,” received a grant from the Foundation along with support from The Bargain Box of Hilton Head Island to use Lego building to develop critical skills in her students.
Ms. Freeman wanted the students to build a Lego Wall along the breezeway between the Media Center and the Steam Lab at the school. The Lego wall was to be made available for use by all students, PreK through 5th grades and Special Education. The purpose of the Lego wall was to help students develop skills in building models and structures that corelates to the Science and Engineering Practice Standards outline in the South Carolina College and Career-Read Standards for Science.
All of the materials were secured by the first part of December, and the construction began right after returning from holiday break. About halfway into the build, the group had to “reimagine” the original plan due to a warped bulletin board. But it was all part of the learning process!
Plywood was then used to secure the wall. And construction began again! Finally, the wall was officially completed right before Spring Break.
It was truly an all-school effort as each grade signed up to work on the wall for sperate weeks. Ms. Freeman shared building ideas with the teachers and students and printed “Lego Base” paper so that the students could plan out designs beforehand.
Research has shown that building with Lego can have many benefits, including the development of: fine motor skills, creativity, problem solving skills, confidence, concentration, spatial awareness and teamwork. Through this project, the students at MOES had the opportunity to develop each of these skills while having fun and working together at the same time!
“All of the classes at Mossy Oaks really enjoyed using the board!” said Ms. Freeman. “I’ve gotten great feedback from the classroom teachers and have asked for ideas for how to use it next school year.”
As students have more opportunities to develop their building skills, Ms. Freeman hopes that they will begin to plan and build more complex designs such as themed murals.
This is a project that will impact the entire school for many years thanks to the funding from the Foundation and the support of The Bargain Box of Hilton Head Island.
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