San Anton School was one of the first schools locally to recently introduce Lego Education Systems as an integral part of the ICT curriculum in both the Junior and Senior Sectors.
Lego Education WeDo is an educational system that redefines classroom robotics making it possible for Junior Sector students aged between 8-11 years of age to build and program their own solutions.
Bridging the physical world, represented by the Lego models and the virtual world, represented by computers and software, this provides a hands-on, minds-on learning experience that actively involves young students in their own learning process and promotes their creative thinking, teamwork and problem solving skills.
“This platform enabled me to start facilitating a new but natural process where my students had an opportunity to direct their own learning,” commented Abigail Vassallo, an ICT teacher in the Junior Sector.
“ All of the students whatever their ability, were so engaged in the lessons that they did not realise that they were learning, and compared the experience to playing their favourite game, “ concluded Ms. Vassallo.
The Senior Sector is also experiencing its fair share of innovative technology in the form of Lego Education Mindstorms NXT sets which allows older students to learn how to design, program and control fully functional models.
Specific software is used to plan, test and modify a sequence of instructions for a variety of robotics. Data is collected and analysed using it’s unique Data Logging functions which are embedded in the software.
“ This system allows me to teach technology in a very rewarding way, enabling students to understand technological concepts.
Students investigate, plan, test and implement their ideas whilst working things out for themselves. It is very rewarding for a teacher to see students enjoying themselves, achieving results and utilising their problem solving skills,” concluded Silvio Camilleri, Senior Sector Computer Teacher.
LEGO Education products were supplied to San Anton School by IMS Ltd.
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