Teachers´ understanding of what LEGO Mindstorms can offer as a

learning tool in Technical and vocational education schools

Birger Brevik Akershus University College, Norway

Projects backgrond

• New Norwegian core curriculum in 2006• The main task is to try out a praxis based on

competence development program

Main project title

• LEGO & Learning– From work- process in the work life to learning

tasks in the school

Theoretical fundament

• Constructionism (Seymour, 1980)– learning-by-making – The learning theory about constructionism

involves two types of construction, a mental knowledge construction in the context of construction an meaningful artifact

LEGO Mindstorms

Methods

Organizing and presenting data

• Atlas.ti – the knowledge workbench– Software for qualitative data analysis,

management, and model building

Results

Discussion• The teachers have heard about it…• Their understanding have been limited to the technical aspect• They who have used it, use it as a technical tool• They have had no specific pedagogical thoughts about the use

of LEGO Mindstorms

• The main focus for further working in the workshops has been on the pedagogical aspects– Introducing a model for technology in schools

• A model that gives the students possibilities to construct a technological artefact

Lifelong learning

• This project is to implement a new learning tool for the experienced teachers, to change their teaching strategies

An interacting design cycle (Layton, 1993)