LEGO Training. An Educational Program for Vocational Professions

Abstract

At the present time, the conventional academic education for vocational professions in Romania strives to cover extensively the development of occupational skills. Alongside the theoretical part, the practical experiences play an important role in the process of continuing education and professional evolution of graduates. In real life situations, the theoretical aspects are better assimilated when combined with training oriented towards development of abilities for a positive interaction with clients, especially the managerial and soft skills. This study proposes a non-formal educational training program focused on improving certain skills required in vocational professions, especially relevant for architects, as identified through a questionnaire methodology. The concept is based on the LEGO game and the program beneficiaries are instructed on how to build a metaphorical construction of their existing and acquired skills out of color-coded blocks, each representing a set of abilities. This article underlines the main issues regarding institutionalized vocational education and presents the results of the survey as well as the development of a two-week learning program.

Investigating the use of LEGO® Bricks in education and training: A systematic literature review

“…On the other hand, when LEGO® is introduced as a thinking tool, the outcome is highly likely to vary according to who is participating in the work. Furthermore, students are assigned to an individual LEGO® activity in some educational cases (Lindsay et al, 2017), while in other cases, they are assigned to collaborative work using LEGO® bricks (Dumitraşcu et al, 2014;Jensen et al, 2018). This suggests that LEGO® applications can be further classified according to the number of students engaged in LEGO® activities.…”

“…In other words, the LEGO® bricks function as a communication catalyst. For example, students are initially assigned to an individual LEGO® activity and are required to explain the outcome of collaborative group work using LEGO® bricks at the end (Dumitraşcu et al, 2014;Lindsay et al, 2017;Jensen et al, 2018). This is often combined with group-oriented activities, such as innovation design projects (Zenk et al, 2018) and creative problem-solving (Wengel et al, 2016).…”

Logros de niños y niñas de educación inicial mediante el juego con bloques de Lego (Achievements of Early Childhood Education children through play with Lego blocks)

“…El estudiantado encuentra las sesiones de laboratorio más atractivas y resuelven los problemas con más entusiasmo proponiendo ejercicios prácticos y mejorando los puntajes en sus evaluaciones (Cruz, Fernández, Galindo, González, Stockmans, & Blanco, 2012). También, el entrenamiento de Lego a partir de bloques codificados por colores, apunta a varios aspectos de interés para los arquitectos facilitando el ambiente de trabajo (Dumitraºcu, Corduban, Nica, & Hapurne, 2014).…”