Building with Lego can help teens talk about life’s big questions

By Martha Shaw and Alexis Stones

The endless creativity that Lego bricks present means they can be used for far more than following instructions to build the model on the front of the box. Our research uses Lego to get young people talking to each other about identity, belonging and participation in society.
We draw on the concept of worldview – beliefs and values that shape how we perceive things – and explore how our worldview influences how we see and interact with others and society.
In a recent study, we gave piles of Lego bricks to ten groups of young people in four secondary schools across England and asked them to build models to show their responses to questions.
‘Building’ gives people time to reflect and can lead to more thoughtful, imaginative and often emotional responses. The power of metaphor is particularly helpful in exploring personal or sensitive issues. It provides a sense of distance; we feel less exposed and able to discuss things that can be difficult to express.

This is a technique used in the Lego Serious Play approach: a tool developed for the workplace by the Lego Group with the idea that by ‘thinking through fingers’ we use both sides of the brain with potential to unleash insight and imagination. We apply this to explore ideas of commonality and difference.
Students in our study explored ideas of identity by building a model to show ‘three things that make you, you’. Some students focused on things they like, such as hobbies, or important things for them. Many also highlighted people that mattered to them.

When building a model of ‘where you feel you belong’, the students considered their connections to people and places. What emerged were multiple allegiances and loyalties in which gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, interests, aspirations and politics all intersected in complex and unpredictable ways.
Finally, we asked students to build together ‘what it means to be a citizen’. Here they combined their ideas, working together in a new and interactive way that pays attention to difference and connection. “It shows how we are all connected together in society and how in order for society to function we must work together,” one of the students said.

Our research shows that young peoples’ worldviews are complex and dynamic: they shape and are shaped by interaction in society. In other words, there is a complex interplay between worldviews, civic identity and action. The experience of building and discussion built empathy, a sense of interconnectedness and shared vision for a more cohesive society.

A recent review of the national curriculum for England aims to equip young people in tackling the challenges of our changing world, and recommends increased provision of religious education and citizenship. As a research method and an educational tool, Lego or other building toys have the potential to help teachers and young people to think outside the box, whether that’s the Lego box, identity ‘boxes’ or traditional approaches to learning.

Martha Shaw is Associate Professor in Education, London South Bank University and Alexis Stones is Subject Lead, Religious Education PGCE, UCL. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence