A couple of months ago, I posted on the blog about LEGO® Education BricQ Motion Essential, which is an amazing STEAM Education kit that I absolutely love for myself and children. Well, guess what? There is now a new tool from LEGO Education for professional development that allows teachers to learn how to implement STEAM education in their classrooms! 

Sometimes when it comes to implementing STEAM education into our learning spaces, we don’t know where to begin. But now, LEGO® Education Professional Development offers teachers a unique anytime, anywhere program designed to serve educators’ professional development needs. LEGO® Education Professional Development is a personalized, competency-based learning program that inspires and actively engages teachers in facilitating playful and hands-on STEAM learning. This program has been over a year in the making, so while it wasn’t developed in response to COVID, a lot of the teaching videos were filmed during it, which means it has many features to help support educators continuing to teach from home, while of course providing PD for educators who are back in the classroom. At a time when we’re all looking for ideas on how to teach in these new ways, this PD program is relevant no matter what situation you find yourself in.

This professional learning is driven and informed by qualitative research via a collaboration with the Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO). (I love some solid research, y’all!) It includes  flexible self-guided learning so professional learning can happen when it’s most convenient for educators.. It also offers real-world classroom videos inspiring teachers to learn from peers and apply new methods in their own teaching. The professional learning gives bite-sized content to fit into educators’ busy days. We know that we are all so busy — especially these days. Whew! So the bite-sized options are perfect for educators during this time.  

LEGO Education Professional Development also enables teachers to choose courses that fit their interests and analyze student learning. As an educator, it’s helpful to know that LEGO Education Professional Development is built on the LEGO® Education Competency-Based Framework, which includes four core categories: Pedagogy, STEAM Concepts, 21st Century Skills, and Classroom Management. 

I watched the learning burst on “Differentiating Learning Experiences,” which has insights on how to use the LEGO Education SPIKE Prime solution with students that have different learning needs. We know our classrooms are not homogeneous so I loved how this learning burst provided tips and tricks on how to use the SPIKE Prime solution to educate different students in a classroom.  

Since I have the BricQ Motion Essential set, I watched the guided video with Teacher Maureen on how to incorporate BricQ Motion Essential lessons into your classroom. The video series is easy to follow and I love how it gives step-by-step guidance on how to use the “Free Throw” lesson. It’s something that an educator can watch and instantly go implement in their own classroom. Maureen begins with stating the objectives, the target age group for the lesson, and shares exactly where to locate the Learning Resource Room to find the online lesson plan, lesson extensions and lesson tips. What makes me so excited as an Instructional Coach is that it correlates directly to Force and Motion standards, Probability in Math, Measurement and graphing and it includes so many other standards of learning! It clearly shows how STEM lessons can incorporate so many standards during student hands-on learning. Since LEGO Education solutions use LEGO bricks and are hands-on, the video format for the PD was great because I was able to easily see what steps to take in order to  seamlessly incorporate into classrooms.

Another amazing part is that all online lessons are free! There are two kinds of self-guided flexible learning modules: Learning Bursts for quick and focused skills practice and Learning Quests for deeper competency development. Teachers can pick and choose courses based on the topic or length and aren’t required to follow a predetermined order. This is exactly what teachers need right now in the midst of everything that is going on.Teachers can observe playful STEAM learning through videos of real classrooms and teacher interviews that help demonstrate the competencies in a variety of learning environments, including in-person, physically distanced, and virtual classrooms. It meets educators’ needs right now–right where we are.

LEGO Education Professional Development will launch in eight languages and feature LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Prime and LEGO® Education BricQ Motion product training with additional LEGO Education solutions added throughout the year. 

To learn more about the new LEGO Education Professional Development program, visit: http://www.LEGOeducation.com/pd. You won’t be disappointed. Let’s get our learning on!