Lego Education

The coming ed tech

Education technology is still very much at the forefront of leveraging and transforming teaching and learning. However, with the sheer amount of resources available to teachers, there has been a shift from just buying technology for technology’s sake, to investing in tools that really demonstrate value, and make teaching simpler, effective and more streamlined.

Another trend that will continue into 2019 is the importance of developing skills that will help children flourish in their future lives. Skills that not only develop their academic ability, but those that teach them about the world and how to thrive. These skills should be developed throughout a child’s education and should start from as early as preschool in order to build foundational knowledge which should then be reinforced all the way through to secondary school, encouraging the continuum of learning. Incorporating the arts within this can really engage a child with their learning and the development of skills needed for the future.

We’ve seen a big focus on STEM throughout 2018, but as we move into the New Year, we will see even more emphasis on the role the arts can play in this. The STEAM movement, really brings creativity to the forefront of every lesson and encourages children to think about concepts in a more creative way, giving them the freedom to express and explore on a deeper level. It also gives teachers greater flexibility which is especially important at a time when there is a lack of subject specialists; for instance, having resources that demonstrate coding across a variety of subjects allows mainstream teachers to teach computing in a way that is simple, engaging and incorporates other topics.

Challenges

As I’ve just touched on, there is a lack of subject specialist teachers as well as a varied degree of confidence that still exists when it comes to teaching STEAM. We are still seeing that sometimes teachers feel that they lack the confidence or the skills to teach STEAM in the classroom, especially if they specialise in a subject which hasn’t necessarily before incorporated coding and robotics.

This is why it’s important for teachers to choose the right resources in order to aid and advance teaching and learning; if it isn’t adding value, then there simply is no point. It can be difficult to think how coding and robotics relate to Romeo and Juliet in an English literature class, but this is where STEAM learning can be particularly powerful. By introducing the arts, students can explore the narrative, themes and characters in a more expressive, creative way that allows them to get hands-on and bring the story to life; all while teaching them essential coding skills.

It’s our duty as providers of education technology to listen, guide and support teachers wherever we can to help them be the best teacher possible.

Conference stands (if known)

Bett Stand F70

Website

https://education.lego.com/en-gb
Joslyn Adcock