LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Essential is the cross-curricular STEAM solution for primary education. SPIKE Essential engages students in hands-on investigation of STEAM concepts while contributing to literacy, math, and social-emotional development. Standards-aligned learning units use everyday themes, relatable Minifigures with different personalities and familiar LEGO® building elements to solve problems through storytelling.
SPIKE Essential consists of a main classroom brick set with a wide variety of LEGO® elements and intelligent hardware, along with the intuitive SPIKE™ App, all of which is accompanied by a selection of unit plans and comprehensive online and in-app support.
SPIKE Essential excites students and delivers strong STEAM learning outcomes, developing their STEAM knowledge and practices, and 21st century skills.
I worked as a concept lead at the Front End phase. It means that I was responsible for the over all concept before the full production of all lessons, models, etc.
The concept had several parts, including how students will interact with the LEGO bricks, activities, hardware and digital solutions.
One of the key part of the concept was to have models that were not so "polished". LEGO models that could invite students to make changes and try new solutions. That is why we used the white base plates with several free studs. It is a blank canvas for students.
Another important element of the concept was the hardware. It should use the same platform as SPIKE Prime but in a smaller size to match the LEGO System platform. In this case we were mixing Technic Hardware with System Bricks. It was a huge challenge that we solved developing a new element: The Bridge Connector,
The Bridge Connector allow user to build Technic Hardware into System elements (e.g. a 8x8 plate)
