Why Schools Should Use Lego Army Tanks
It is fair to say that most elementary students have played with Legos at some point in their lives. There are very few homes that do not have a least a small box of Lego bricks and those that don’t have Legos at home have probably played with them at a friend’s house. The benefits of Lego play are reinforced by the fact that many lower elementary and preschool classrooms offer Legos as part of free play time. Legos encourage creativity and problem solving, cooperative play and following directions. But what can Lego army tanks have to offer beyond that?
As we lose our World War II veterans, we lose a part of our history. Teachers are doing their best to give children a sense of history, to help them understand what life was like during the wars of the past. Children can memorize dates and numbers but to help students truly understand a concept, they need a hands-on activity and this is where Legos come in.
If children build Lego toy tanks based on vehicles from different wars and time periods, they can get a sense of the Technological revolution and the engineering that goes into creating these amazing vehicles. They can witness the progression from rolling cannons to the tanks used during the first World War. Students who build model tanks based on tanks from World War II can compare the tanks used by the German army to those of the Soviets and Americans and discuss how the strengths and weaknesses of each contributed to the outcome of the war.
Sure, teachers can provide pre-made models of tanks and aircraft but students do not feel the same sense of ownership and do not understand the details as clearly as when they build Lego tanks for themselves. There may be parents who criticize school districts for encouraging kids to play or those that think that building Lego army vehicles encourages violence. But the truth is that kids learn more through play than lecture. The truth is that if we forget where we come from we won’t be able to see where we are going.