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teachwire.net/secondary PA R T N E R C O N T E N T 59 ChrisWilde explains how this STEAM learning tool from LEGO®Education has helped boost students’ levels of learning engagement during computer science lessons Royal Grammar School Newcastle has a dedicated space for LEGO® Education learning solutions and various other products to help students get hands on and build essential STEAM skills. As part of this, we wanted to bring in additional resources to add variation to the curriculum and that’s where we saw LEGO® Education SPIKE™Prime fitting in perfectly. LEGO® Education SPIKE™Prime bridges the gap for KS3 students, helping them to build a solid understanding of coding and the associated languages. It’s very similar to Scratch, which a lot of our students are already familiar with, so it didn’t take long for everyone to get started! LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Prime includes hundreds of new LEGO® Technic elements that are compatible with other LEGO® bricks, which means our students have even more freedom and flexibility to create and construct designs. Our curriculum is centred around constructionist learning, so the resource has been particularly effective in our computer science lessons, where we use the lesson plans to explore real-world problems and come up with solutions. The units focus on different skills, including computational thinking and engineering design, challenging students to create all kinds of projects – from designing a factory box sorter, through to a personal trainer that memorises and learns a process faster. WILL IT WORK FOR YOU? + LEGO® Education SPIKE™Prime is the go-to STEAM learning tool for students in Y7-9 + Hands-on,activities engagestudentsand encouragecritical- thinkingandproblem- solving,regardlessof learninglevels + Teacher training and lesson plans will help strengthen student confidence and foundational STEAM knowledge + Optimised for 45-minute lessons, the resource explores computer science and robotics through real-world projects TALKING ABOUT: LEGO® EDUCATION SPIKE™ PRIME Contact: Find out more about LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Prime by visiting education.lego. com/en-gb/product/ spike-prime The feedback so far has been incredibly positive. While there’s a lot of noise in the classroom, the engagement is far more than what it would be with paper-based resources! The best bit is that sometimes they’re having so much fun, they forget they’re learning! As well as it being intuitive to use – very little CPD is required – the pedagogy works really well. The timings of lessons are effective; units are split into manageable chunks to match our lesson times, which helps make our teachers’ lives easier when it comes to planning and delivery. We also take part in competitions and activities, including the FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL). We see LEGO® Education SPIKE™Prime playing an important part in the process this year, especially as the final lesson of the Competition Ready unit has direct ties to the FLL Robot Game. It’s an ideal way for students to combine foundational knowledge of robotics and coding, while empowering them to build resilience, confidence and creative solutions that address real-world problems. We are big advocates of the constructionist learning process, and hands-on learning is the main way we do this in everything we teach. ABOUT ME: LOVE... WHY I NAME: CHRIS WILDE JOB ROLE: Head of Digital Technology and Computing SCHOOL: Royal Grammar School Newcastle FAVOURITE FEATURE: I love the varied elements that the pupils can construct. The tie back to real world problems and solution is a great feature of this system. TEACH SECONDARY SPECIAL COMPUTING