Science, technology, engineering and maths aren’t the easiest subjects in the school curriculum, but they are critical. And Dublin City University is teaming up with Lego to make them more fun for children around Ireland. DCU has launched their new Lego Education Innovation Centre at the Institute of Education at their St. Patrick’s campus in Drumcondra. The programme is designed to help to teach students to bring fresh and creative new approaches to teaching STEM subjects in primary and secondary schools.
The new centre is part of an international network with partners across Europe. In addition to teaching future teachers about making STEM subjects more engaging, it will also participate in research in cooperation with other DCU programmes such as the Centre for the Advancement of Science and Mathematics Teaching and Learning (CASTEL) and the Faculty of Engineering and Computing. The new Lego Education Innovation Centre will also offer continuing education to teachers.
Making STEM fun for school children bodes well for all of us. Anything that keeps young people engaged in education is good for society. Encouraging creativity in technology today means everyone will benefit from innovative new products and services in the future. With so many challenges on the horizon about how humanity can clean up the planet and make the best use of available resources, we need innovative leaders with a solid understanding of STEM subjects.
Today’s school children will need to do more than dream up fun, time-saving apps when they grow up. We’re facing extremely limited fossil fuels and increasing challenges with pollution and waste management. But that’s no reason that STEM shouldn’t be fun. Indeed, making it fun is probably the best way to make sure children engage in it and take it seriously. We’re all more likely to do something because it is fun than because we know we need to do it.
And every parent will agree, that Lego needs to do something for humanity. We need the motivation to forgive them for all the times we’ve stepped on a tiny plastic brick in our bare feet in the middle of the night.
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