LEGO® Does It Again. All in All…Not Just Another Brick!
Learn about the latest community building program from LEGO!
Things are really starting to click in this month’s post! Recently, Carnegie Mellon University has announced its partnership with a U.K. social enterprise, Play Included®, to officially launch Project Baseplate, a scalable platform for deploying LEGO® brick based activities to children across the United States. The university’s Center for Transformational Play (CTP), which focuses on the research and development of transformational games, will lead the initiative of launching the Brick-by-Brick® program, an internationally acclaimed LEGO® brick based therapy in the United States. The Digital Dragon team is thrilled to join in the adventure and will have team members that are certified by Play Included as Brick-By-Brick Facilitators to launch clubs across Los Angeles!
The Brick-by-Brick® program, developed with support from the LEGO Foundation, is an evidence-based, child-led approach that draws on the latest research in neurodiversity and learning through play. The neurodiversity-affirming program offers children positive, meaningful social experiences in a playful and accepting environment. Through collaborative play, children have fun and make friends, and develop their communication skills, confidence, and social and emotional well-being.
The team at CMU CTP and across Project Baseplate are exploring how the program, designed by Play Included, can be remixed for various learning environments to address the gap in social and emotional well-being due to the pandemic. At its core, the program nurtures communication skills, pride, and a sense of belonging.
Digital Dragon has a long history of working with LEGO for learning including the use of Mindstorms, WeDo, and Spike Prime for robotics and creative builds for Stop Motion Animation! When presented with the opportunity to supplement current play-based activities, the team were eager to get started. If you are curious how to join a Digital Dragon Brick Club, reach out to: info@digitaldragon.co .
You can learn more about the Brick-by-Brick® program on the Play Included website.
To learn more about Carnegie Mellon University, the Center for Transformational Play, and Project Baseplate, visit the Project Baseplate website.
TLDR; LEGO can be used to create so many things, so why not use LEGO to nurture communication skills and community building? With the launch of Project Baseplate, a collaboration between Play Included and Carnegie Mellon University, Brick Clubs have officially arrived in the US with great opportunities to engage. Digital Dragon is excited to launch Brick Clubs across Los Angeles in schools and at the studio in Santa Monica.
About the Author:
John Balash was instrumental in Digital Dragon’s launch in 2013 as its first Curriculum Director and is now back in the fold as a consultant on all the latest and greatest in tech education.This is John’s latest contribution to a monthly blog series we’ve launched, Tech News from the Frontier. John is the Director of Educational Engagement at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center. John has worked on educationally-focused initiatives with clients ranging from D.A.R.P.A. to Disney. Working from both sides of the desk, you can find John in classrooms and conferences around the world exploring new uses for technologies in learning environments.