eas-3.1
Effects of LEGO on children
Wenqi Huang
EAS 1060
Paper3
These are products of the Lego Group, a Denmark based company. They are plastic construction toys that are meant for children's play. They are specially made with colorful bricks and fitted with gears such that they appeal to children. These pieces can be connected in various ways to come up with a variety of products such as vehicles, and robots. The items can be disassembled and reassembled each time to form a new item. This invention dates back in 1949 and more inventions have been made along the way to include children's movies and games. Children love to play and they are drawn by anything that they can connect and identify with. Lego, therefore, has impacted children's lives greatly; both positively and negatively (Luo et al, 3).
Themes in Lego construction sets have evolved over the years mainly pushed by ongoing innovation. Early productions were based on the themes of town, castle, and space. Lego began by creating sub-themes out of these main themes. The company then began using themes outside the Lego system. It has been a journey of innovation with new themes being adopted and dropped along the way. Not everything produced is connected to a certain theme; the aim of Lego is to produce something that will appeal to children (Luo et al, 7).
Lego has had a massive impact on children. Just like any other technological invention, it has positively impacted children but the negative impacts cannot be disputed. It promotes children's motor skills. When connecting pieces to form products, children learn how to balance the pressure in order to come up with something great. This art of balancing pressure on their hands will come in handy in class to help them in writing. It encourages teamwork among children. When children are assembling pieces, they share ideas and take advice from each other. Also, they learn the art of turn-taking and this builds their teamwork spirit at an early age (Rao and Ankith, 121).
These products improve the creativity of children. Since they come in pieces that children can assemble and disassemble, they improve the creativity of children when thinking of a product they could form with the pieces. Additionally, they help children develop the art of thinking mathematically and problem-solving. The focus required in this art and the symmetry involved as well as the art of balancing and knowledge on shapes and sizes impact the child mathematically. The children's communication skills are enhanced as children exchange ideas and comment on each other's creations. Children can explain their work, talk about the procedure and any challenges involved (Rao and Ankith, 122).
Connecting the pieces to come up with creation is a process that requires persistence. The construction will not be successful with the first attempt and the child will be expected to do it again. This teaches children the virtue of persistence which is very important in life. Once a child is able to complete construction, they feel so proud of their achievement. This goes a long way in boosting their self-esteem. Children pride themselves in knowing that they can do it. Instructions for constructions are often challenging; however, it helps children develop planning skills and think laterally. In case they face problems during assembly, they have to go back and follow the process keenly to fix it (Chaudhary et al, 39).
There is always the other side of innovation and Lego sets are no exemption. Lego toys initially focused on making toys with happy faces. However, there is a recent production of more angry faces as compared to happy faces. This has raised concern that it could affect children psychologically. Since children are supposed to build things by following strict instruction, it has in a way been seen as making creativity in children stiff. Lego has manufactured thousands of designs leaving children with no room to exercise their imagination (Toh et al, 149).
Lego has been accused of gender stereotyping. Most of the time, boys will be the ones to go out on an adventure, save people, get jobs, and take all risks. Girls, on the other hand, will only be focusing on matters of beauty and cooking. This, in today's world, does not paint a good image and it has raised concerns. Decades ago toys used to be classic, today toys are so commercialized and sexualized such that parents are afraid of getting them for their children. Modern Lego toys have been seen as more focused on making money than helping children (Reich et al, 287).
There is however no scientific evidence that Lego could harm a child psychologically. It is true that Lego has focused more on the production of angry faces, but there is no scientific evidence connecting this with children's psychology. The impact of these faces was seen when they are attached to the body. When the body is disassembled, the impact becomes less. This way scientists argue that an adult's perception of these toys is different from that of children since children will perceive face the same way, whether it is assembled or disassembled. There is no psychological threat and everything is all about perception.
Lego produces pieces that children can use to construct a variety of things. Children can assemble and disassemble these things creating something new each time. This science has been there for a long time and many inventions have been made along the way. These constructions have been seen as having many benefits to children such as enhancing their ability to think mathematically, problem-solving ability and lateral thinking. They also enhance children's communication skills, creativity and boost their spirit of teamwork. These among many others are the positive effects of Lego on children. However, Lego has been seen as killing the imagination of children as well as gender stereotyping. Although there is no scientific evidence to support this, the angry faces in Lego constructions have been thought of as negatively impacting children's psychology (Toh et al, 153).
Chaudhary, Vidushi, et al. "An experience report on teaching programming and computational thinking to elementary level children using lego robotics education kit." 2016 IEEE Eighth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E). IEEE, 2016.p 38-41. Retrieved from https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/7814791/
Luo, Sheng-Jie, et al. "Legolization: optimizing LEGO designs." ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG) 34.6 (2015): 1-12. Retrieved from https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2816795.2818091
Rao, Ankith. "The application of LeJOS, Lego Mindstorms Robotics, in an LMS environment to teach children Java programming and technology at an early age." 2015 IEEE Integrated STEM Education Conference. IEEE, 2015. P121-122. Retrieved from https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/7119902/
Reich, Stephanie M., Rebecca W. Black, and Tammie Foliaki. "Constructing difference: LEGO® set narratives promote stereotypic gender roles and play." Sex Roles 79.5-6 (2018): 285-298. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-017-0868-2
Toh, Lai Poh Emily, et al. "A review on the use of robots in education and young children." Journal of Educational Technology & Society 19.2 (2016): 148-163. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/jeductechsoci.19.2.148.pdf