LEGO at the University: building blocks for creative and active learning
Lecturer Caitrín Crudden (SILS) recently introduced LEGO® Serious Play into her new course ‘Engineering Mammalian Systems’ to help her students make complex biomedical systems more tangible.
In a tutorial, students used LEGO to build a simplified model for a future “advanced in vitro model” of cellular processes.
Caitrín Crudden is an assistant professor at SILS who teachers several courses in the Biomedical Sciences program. In her new course , ‘Engineering Mammalian Systems’, developed for the new BSc ‘Science, Technology and Engineering’ at our faculty, she noticed how first-year students would sometimes struggle to visualize and conceptualize complex biomolecular processes in a cell.
The course gives an overview of the current landscape in biomedical research, which is shifting away from overreliance on animal models for research and drug development, towards human-based in vitro systems. For this, students have to get a grasp on how to ‘build’ a cellular process.
Inspired by the use of LEGO® Serious Play during a BKO (UTQ) workshop, Caitrín decided to introduce the world famous and colorful building blocks into her teaching. In a tutorial, student teams chose an organ or disease, mapped out the most important cell types, structures and processes that are involved in their topis, and used LEGO to build a simplified model for a future “advanced in vitro model”. This way, they engaged with lecture-delivered information and challenged themselves to follow the first few steps of new model development.
First: identify a tissue, or organ, or disease that needs more study, and break it down into core components (think relevant cell types, architecture, processes, forces). Then: envisage how to model some of the elements of this complex system in a simplified version that could be developed in a lab.
” The atmosphere was collegial and playful – which I had hoped for! “
Fun and engagement
Caitrín saw how students quickly engaged fully in the session; diving into the material and also enjoying it. A collegial and playful atmosphere hung in the room, and it stimulated everyone to take part in the tutorial. It really fostered the creativity and problem-solving needed for optimal idea developments. The course overall was rated highly by students (4,6 out of 5) and they pointed out that “the Lego was really fun!”
The students came up with surprisingly creative and thoughtful ideas!
LEt's GO:
Would you also like to discover how LEGO can enhance creativity, systems thinking and discussion in your teaching? TLC regularly offers LEGO workshops, where you’ll experience the possibilities for yourself and can translate them to your own teaching practice.
You can borrow the LEGO sets from TLC Science to use in your own teaching; contact the training team via tlc-training-science@uva.nl. Feel free to reach out to us with questions or LEGO requests!
Sign up for a LEGO workshop here
More information
This teacher story is a creative example of an active learning workflow. Click below to learn more.