LEGO ® bricks remind us of our childhood, the pleasure of "playing", of being in movement, and are a tool for active and participative pedagogy in any subject.

This method gives learners an awareness of the problems they encounter and the learning process, allowing both individuals and groups to rediscover themselves in their full creative potential: it is above all a form of language. Change management, project management, decision-making support, confidence and assertiveness, and determining orientations are examples of objectives that can appear as new avenues for exploring possibilities and learning.

What are the added values for learning?

The method is based on Piaget's constructivist approach which places the individual at the heart of his/her learning.

The approach is as follows: the participant builds something with LEGO® bricks and explains to the rest of the group his/her perception of the subject, then the group builds what it already knows and experiences while respecting each person's point of view.  The group then adds, restructures and conceptualizes the information, what it has learned in relation to its own perceptions: this is the phenomenon of conceptual restructuring through experience and learning.

Each person therefore expresses themselves freely on what they are experiencing, what they have learned, how they have implemented this learning, and what they still need in order to progress. Following the course, the participant also learns from the experience and comments made by the other participants and the group in general.

Students, trainees, the trainer and the teacher participate together, they become actors of change as they build ideas and projects through the creation of a model (a 3D action plan).

How can trainers implement this learning method? What advice can be given?

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® is a creative process invented and patented by the LEGO® Group and IMD Business School in Lausanne. It was tested and approved by MIT in 1996, and since then has regularly been used by teachers and CENTRALESUPELEC students. In order to lead a workshop, the trainer must be certified as a LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® facilitator by the international association of "Master Trainers". They will have a LEGO® License number allowing them to use the purpose-designed kits of bricks.

The facilitator thus masters the pedagogical method as a whole, and adopts the posture of the unsuspecting to put himself at the service of the group, welcoming and triggering individual and collective ideas. The framework and instructions are precise and require vigilant application of the principles of collective intelligence. This is why teachers choose to be accompanied by a facilitator who is trained and certified in the method.

The LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method is particularly appropriate upstream in training design, and downstream, providing training as an action plan, assessment, and adjustment.