Discover the science of being healthy with Google Science Fair 2013

With just nine days to go until the closing date for Google Science Fair 2013, there are still opportunities to Hangout On Air with the experts.

Is it scientifically possible to actually change the way a person’s genes work, just by changing the way they eat and exercise? That’s the question which will be asked by
Dr Dean Ornish on Wednesday (April 24), in his talk Your Genes Are Not Your Fate: Change Your Lifestyle, Change Your Genes.

You can join the session live at 8pm on Wednesday evening.

And on Friday hear National Geographic Explorer Iain Couzin explain why different kinfds of fish, birds, animals and insects act as one when they swarm. He’ll be looking at the scientific principles that guide collective behaviour and what it can teach us about nature and ourselves.

Swarm! The Science of Collective Behaviour will be live on Field Trip Friday (April 26) at 5pm.

Google Science Fair 2013 calls on students to put their science and engineering projects online to compete for prizes, scholarships and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. The Fair is being backed by The LEGO Group, along with CERN, National Geographic and Scientific American.

Projects being entered in the 2013 competition need to be submitted by Tuesday, April 30, 2013. To find out more about submitting your project, visit the Google Science Fair website where you’ll discover lots of hints and tips to help you. You’ll also find inspirational stories about the winners of last year’s competition.

Create a LEGO® film and become a star!

Calling all film-making LEGO® fans! Fancy having your film featured in the upcoming film, The LEGO® Movie? Then enter the ReBrick Film Competition and your dream could come true!

The LEGO Group and Warner Bros. have joined forces to offer one lucky film maker the opportunity to be involved with the movie, due to be released in 2014.

All you need to do is submit your video on ReBrick, the online community for LEGO fans, by May 6.

The top 25 films with the most community votes will enter a final round of judging, and the winning video will be included in the upcoming movie!

Entrants have to be 16 or over and to find out more about the movie, how to enter the competition and the prizes on offer, visit the ReBrick website where you’ll find lots of detail.

Good luck!

BuildToExpress competition winners announced!

A big thank you to all the schools who took the time to enter the LEGO® Education BuildToExpress competition.

It has been a really tough job judging the entries, but the prize of a classroom set of BuildToExpress goes to the school under the Flickr account name undyplaza. To see the winning entries click here.

The children have clearly worked hard in thinking about what a fun school lesson means to them and they have shown some great use of metaphors using the LEGO® elements.

As we cannot identify the school by this name please can you contact us so that we can organise delivery of your prize.

Thanks again to everyone who entered and look out for more competitions next year!

BuildToExpress competition is now closed!

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to enter the LEGO® Education BuildToExpress competition. 

We have had some fantastic entries and over the next few days we will be working through them all to find the winner. Why not have a look at all the brilliant creations here?

The winning school will be announced on 12 December so watch this space to see if you have won a BuildToExpress classroom set for your school!

Our BuildToExpress competition closes soon so don’t delay!

Have you uploaded your creations for the LEGO® Education BuildToExpress competition yet? If not, what are you waiting for?

By Jairus from Woolaston Primary School, Gloucestershire

You have until close of play on Friday (30 November) to enter and be in with a chance of winning a fantastic BuildToExpress classroom set for your school!

More than 300 schools have requested competition packs of the new BuildToExpress kits and many children have already built their idea of what a fun school lesson is.

Lots of brilliant inventions have been uploaded to the special Flickr site and you can see some of the creations by clicking here. So get building and best of luck!

Notes: Winners will be notified by Friday 14 December 2012 and winning schools will be contacted by telephone/email. By submitting a photo you agree to its promotional use by LEGO Education.

Don’t miss your chance to win LEGO for your school!

Have you uploaded your entries yet for the LEGO® Education BuildToExpress competition?

Made by Lily from Darlinghurst Primary School in Essex

There are just another 10 days to get your class to make models representing what a fun lesson looks like to them. Lots of fabulous ideas using the brand new BuildToExpress kit have already been uploaded to our Flickr site – have a look at what other schools have been doing here. 

If you haven’t got a kit yet then it’s not too late – you have until close of play tomorrow (Wednesday, 21 November), to complete your request as the last free competition kits will be sent out on Thursday (22 November).

To order your pack, simply click on this link.

Remember this is your chance to win a classroom set of BuildToExpress for your school. Happy building!

Inspire your class to express themselves in LEGO!

More than 200 schools have requested their competition packs for the LEGO® Education® BuildToExpress competition – have you?

Why not join all the other primary schools getting involved with our great competition to win a classroom set of BuildToExpress for your school?

All you need to do is order your free pack of BuildToExpress by clicking on this link. Then get your children building in metaphors to show what a fun day at school looks like to them.

We already have our first entries – so take a look at what other schools are producing here and be inspired!

You have until the end of November to submit your photos to ensure that you are in with a chance of winning – so order your pack and upload your ideas as soon as you can!

We look forward to seeing many more of your creations soon!

Inspire your pupils to become LEGO designers!

Why not inspire your pupils to become the designers of the future by entering the first-ever competition to create a new body for the LEGO® Technic 4×4 Crawler?

The winning competition entry will be used to produce and launch an exclusive, limited edition LEGO Technic set available for sale online!

To create a winning design, you need to research and plan, looking at real-life vehicles. Then you need to consider issues such as what makes a design great? Who will want to buy it? Can it be built using Technic elements?

You can upload your design until 31 December 2012. The LEGO Technic Jury will announce a shortlist of ten designs soon afterwards based on the following criteria:

• Overall coolness
• Inspired design details
• Design that people will purchase
• A great colour scheme
• Buildable using existing LEGO Technic elements
• Well thought out functions
• The relationship between your age and your design

People will be able to vote online for their favourite short-listed design and the winning 4×4 Crawler design will be announced on 22 February, with the officially worldwide launch of the product on 1 August 2013.

For more information about the competition and helpful tips on how to start researching and planning your design, click here. To see some of the amazing entries so far, click here.

Children say how they feel with BuildToExpress

This week we feature the work of Claire Osbourne, the Senior Advisory Teacher for Behaviour, Social and Emotional Difficulties for the Learning and Behaviour Team at Telford and Wrekin Council.

I am using LEGO® BuildToExpress with children in KS1, 2 and 3 who are referred to me because of Behavioural, Emotional or Social difficulties. I have mainly used the resource in a therapeutic way, combining counselling with coaching, and working with BuildToExpress as a therapeutic tool. It has been incredible!

I have experienced some amazing use of metaphor which the children really found useful. Using the metaphors really helped the children with their communication and expression of thoughts, feelings and actions. It is the perfect tool for psychotherapy in the way that it allows for manipulation of how the children see ‘their’ world, and therefore it has opened up possibilities for them to make other choices, by doing something different.

It also allowed me to be able to add ‘other person’ perspectives on the situation, and to suppose what difference certain changes might make. Or pose a question that ‘supposes’ what that person might say, think, feel or do and what might need to change so that things are good for everyone.

Here are some of the examples of the models that the children have been creating and work with.

Claire is a working on a diary over the next few months so she can track the work and what she is achieving using BuildToExpress with her students, and she will update you with the results towards the end of the year.

Win a BuildToExpress classroom set for your school!
If you would like to experience BuildToExpress at your school why not get involved in our competition? To find out more click here or to order your free competition pack click here.

New LEGO® set is “genius” says independent review

The first independent review of LEGO® Education’s new BuildToExpress set appears in the October edition of Teach Primary magazine. The review has been carried out by Jonathan Lear, a Deputy Head in Sheffield and former Teaching Award winner. Here’s what he has to say about this resource:

“This product is genius. Sometimes reviewing new stuff can be a bit dull, and the times when you see something genuinely different are few and far between. LEGO Education BuildToExpress, however, is unlike anything I’ve seen before, and should be bought by every school in the country. Immediately.

“Verdict: Builds Creativity. Beyond foundation stage, opportunities for our children to develop their natural creativity and curiosity are sadly outnumbered by more convergent learning experiences.

“BuildToExpress is a great way of shoe-horning this kind of learning back into our curriculum. The high value it places on children’s thoughts and ideas reminds me a little bit of Philosophy for Children, only with more plastic. Buy and enjoy.”

To read the full review online at Teach Primary please click on this link.

Each BuildToExpress set includes over 200 LEGO elements in a separate storage unit. They have been carefully selected to provide a broad spectrum of “ready-made metaphors”. The colorful bricks, accessories and minifigures inspire students and stimulate their creative thinking and imagination.

Win a BuildToExpress classroom set for your school!
If you would like to experience BuildToExpress at your school why not get involved in our competition? To find out more click here or to order your free competition pack click here.