COOL, LEGO® ELEMENTS AND CREATIVITY!!!
I think we can all agree that "creativity" is a good thing. There are too many situations that call for creative solutions on the spot...and building with Lego®s elements can help bring out that creative part of ourselves. I believe Lego® elements are conducive to creativity and allow for personal growth in a very fun way! If I were President, I would require each of my cabinet members to own play with Lego® sets!
The following are some exercises that may aid in garnering your personal creativity:
Calculate all the possible ways three different 2x4 bricks can be attached to each other.
Build every animal you would find in your local zoo.
Juggle three Lego® bricks at a time
Build a house while wearing gloves.
Build a sculpture using only your nondominant hand.
Build a variety of musical instruments.
Design and build the parts of the body ( the heart, the eyes etc ) .
Develop a flying device ( kite, glider etc ) with only Lego® pieces.
Write a sentence in Braille on a large baseplate.
Create a chair you can sit on!
Okay, a quote from Marvin Minsky:
When [ Richard ] Feynman faced a problem he was unusually good at going back to being like a child, ignoring what everyone else thinks, and saying, "Now what have we got here?" He was so "unstuck" and if something didn't work he would look at it in another way. he had so many different good ways. He would do something in ten minutes that might take the average physicist a year, so he was...wonderfully productive. I attribute what they call "genius" to having a bunch of characteristics:
Don't respond to peer pressure.
Keep track of what the problem really is; less wishful thinking.
Have a lot of ways of representing things. If one way doesn't work, switch quickly to another one.
....Talking to Feynman, whatever came up he would say, "Well, here's another way to look at it." The least stuck person I have ever known.
Borrowed from Discover, October 1996...read it!
Most "creativity" exercises seek to open doors to new perspectives...whether it is an attempt to reach the nondominant side of the brain, the subconscious, the inner child, or the Greek muses...I believe Lego® elements are a wonderful medium to that door! I know Feynman would have approved!
As a teacher, I am constantly seeking new ways to encourage creative thinking both with myself and my students. When subjects pose no challenge, we too often go through the motions of studying. Inserting the element of "creativity" breathes life into subjects like math and history. Try some of these exercises! I guarantee they will be fun!
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Copyright© 1996 by Richard Wright for PCS Education Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved