However, in reality, the skill most likely being developed would be how to follow a set of instructions and achieve a specific result. A fantastic set of skills if you wish to spend your life following instructions from others. But that’s not what we are all about here at Bricktastics, we want to create explorers, innovators and out of the box thinkers who can turn dreams into realities.

So let’s revisit this above task from the open-ended creative STEAM approach that Bricktastics would recommend. Instead of a specifically designed outcome, let’s change the brief to “You are an engineer, you have 200 lego bricks of your choice and your task is to create a structure exactly 200cm tall and able to support 1kg of downward force on its highest surface, GO”. 

In this scenario, we have constrained and framed the task so that it will achieve a set of required outcomes, but not so much as to limit the creativity and problem solving needed to achieve the goal. We can all imagine how creative and innovative students would need to be to achieve this kind of outcome. We have not only intentionally failed to specify the types of bricks that can be used, but we have left the construction approach wide open. Within a creativity focused task such as this, we can expect students to develop, problem-solving skills, creativity, testing methodology, positive and negative feedback loops and even critical thinking skills. The student would select bricks based on theories of strength and stability only to have them proven or disproven. Students would also need to manage their budget of bricks, developing budgeting and prioritising and balancing qualities such as piece size and clutch strength, and all of this happens at an almost subconscious level until it becomes second nature for the students.

Wow, that’s a lot to take in, but I’m sure you can see by now how the educational outcomes of LEGO play can go much deeper than just “build this thing for me” when the approach is taken is one of creativity and STEAM-based education.