L to R: Second graders Madelyn Smith, Danny Beyerbach, Tessa Dennemann and Andrew Lam create a structure using the Lower School’s new Mobile LEGO Learning Lab. The lab is one of several ways new Lower School Director Kendra Thornton, Ed.D is applying her doctoral work from Johns Hopkins University.
Boosting Brain Power
Lower School Advances Divergent Thinking, the 4Cs and LEGO Learning By Nancy Berlier When Kendra Thornton, Ed.D., the Lower School’s new director, introduced her Mobile LEGO Learning Lab to a group of second graders this year, she asked them to create their interpretation of a Piet Mondrian color-block painting. Immediately, the kids faced challenges. The artwork was two dimensional and the LEGOS were three dimensional. The Mondrian was red, yellow, white and black. They had lots of green bricks, plus
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bricks with wheels and other distracting-but-fun shapes. Each team of four students had to share one bucket of LEGOS. There weren’t enough pieces in the same shape and colors to build the Mondrian exactly. The kids started to worry they were doing it all wrong. But Dr. Thornton and teacher Martha Rich assured them it was impossible to make mistakes, because there was not one right way to solve the problem they faced. They had freedom to visualize an original concept inspired by Mondrian. They had to