GBSIoT were delighted to support teaching and learning at Solihull College & University Centre through the use of our Lego Spike Prime kits.
Teaching staff at Solihull College & University Centre wrote about the impact of using GBSIoTs Lego Spike Prime kits with students that experience social, emotional, and additional needs, and how the use of the GBSIoT kits have shown positive results. Teaching and learning staff wanted to understand the impact of using a more hands-on learning approach to STEM on students with additional needs and how it helps them to overcome their challenges. The Lego Spike Prime Kits were used to enhance teaching over a period of 5 months and involved students from multiple groups. The results of the study were quite encouraging, and it was evident that Spike Lego had a positive impact on the students’ overall well-being, self-esteem, and academic performance.
The first student, aged 17, faced significant difficulties in reading and writing. Despite his best efforts, he struggled to keep up with his classmates and was falling behind in his studies. However, in his coding lesson, the student showed remarkable aptitude for computer programming and was consistently outperforming his peers. Coding provided the student with a way to express his ideas and creativity, while also building his confidence and self-esteem. He overcame the challenges he faced in reading and writing by communicating his thoughts through code. The use of coding also helped the student to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
The second class the kit was used with involved a group of hearing and deaf students. They were brought together in a coding class with the goal of learning to program robots using Spike Prime Lego, a visual coding platform. The students had limited exposure to each other’s cultures and languages, and there was some initial hesitation from both groups about working together. However, Spike Prime Lego proved to be a powerful tool for building bridges between the hearing and deaf students. The visual coding platform made it possible for the deaf students to participate fully in the class, as they were able to understand the coding concepts without relying on spoken language. The hearing students, in turn, were able to better understand the deaf students’ perspectives and communication styles, as they worked together to program the robots. As the students worked together, they developed a strong sense of teamwork and collaboration. They learned to appreciate each other’s strengths and to support each other through challenges.
The third student was shy, lacked self-esteem, and struggled to communicate with his peers. The student was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder and low self-esteem, which was affecting his academic performance and overall well-being. The tutor used LEGO Spike Prime, a robotic building and coding resource, to help the student with his social and emotional issues. The tutor believed that engaging in hands-on activities such as building and coding robots would help the student to develop his confidence, communication skills, and problem-solving abilities. The student was provided with LEGO Spike kits and was instructed to build and program robots based on different challenges. He was also given opportunities to collaborate with other students on these projects and to present his work to the class. The outcome of these sessions showed that the student’s confidence and communication skills had significantly improved, and he had become more comfortable interacting with his peers.
The use of GBSIOT’s LEGO Spike Prime to enhance teaching and learning at Solihull College & University Centre have shown the positive impact of using GBSIoT’s Lego Spike Prime kits with students with social, emotional, and additional needs. The use of Spike Lego has helped students to overcome their challenges and has had a positive impact on their academic performance, self-esteem, and overall well-being. The above student evaluations demonstrate the importance of providing students with diverse learning needs a range of educational opportunities and the value of using technology to help them reach their full potential.
