Enabling Leadership with building blocks
“When I began attending EL Build sessions, I didn’t know much. Over time playing and working with building blocks, I have learnt how to cooperate and work with my class. Previously, I would resort to fighting and beating the other children. But I’ve changed now. I come to class on time, I respect my teachers and am able to adjust better when working within a group” – Jyothi, Std. VI (Timmapur village,
Jyothi is one of the 100 students part of Enabling Leadership’s “EL Build” program. Created in 2017, EL Build was first piloted with a modest group of 20 students in one village of Karnataka’s rural Dharwad district.
What is Positive Play?
Based on the principle “positive play” or learning through play, EL Build students design solutions for real-world challenges using building blocks in their home, school, village or larger community.
Through the use of building blocks to encourage students to learn collaboratively, EL Build engages their imagination, creativity and critical thinking.
Research by The Lego Foundation recognises the role of play in helping children learn the skills of problem-solving, working
and interacting with others, creativity, communication, resilience and emotional intelligence.
EL Build is a 3-year in-school intervention program for students between 8 – 11 years of age.
Building blocks are a universally accepted language of play, and bring with them an incredible opportunity to design and create an imagined world. They also help to enhance motor skills and spatial awareness among children.
“Within a team there should be cooperation and a willingness to adapt to change. A good team leader embodies these qualities and does not fight with anyone.” – Hanumantha Doddamani, Std. VII (Timmapur village, Dharwad)
Students building a new world
Integrated within the program are showcases for EL Build students to present and demonstrate their work to their school peers, parents and village communities. At the end of each year a final showcase gives students a platform for displaying their models, complete with performances to share their ideas with their communities.
This year, students participating in EL Build’s program for their first year worked on the theme, “My Village”. They first undertook a community walk in their respective villages and then created two models: one representing the village as it is, and second, representing what their ideal village could look like. Their ideal villages included installing dustbins in the village, or, constructing bus-stops for ease of commute, and other ways to make their villages work better.
Students in their second year worked together on, “Machines with Purpose”, to explore how to solve everyday challenges. For this, the students were required to identify one challenge which they or their parents face at home or in their agricultural fields, and devise a machine that can help solve this.
Teachers taught the principles of ‘design thinking’ to help students identify challenges, create prototypes, as well as test their solutions, before finally presenting them at the annual showcase.
In a remote village in Dharwad where washing machines are unheard of, a student created a washing machine with a dryer because her mother found it hard to wash clothes. Another student who was fond of hair-styling but found it difficult to get anyone to help him with it, designed and created a machine which could create different hair-styles.
Students also collaborated to create a puppet show using building blocks. The themes included gender equality, water pollution, hand-washing and food hygiene.;
Timmapur village: Storyline for the puppet show on gender equality at the annual showcase in February 2019
A landlord has two employees – a man and a woman – working for him. One day, the male employee takes the day off and the female employee completes her own as well as his set of tasks. However, a few days later when the female employee takes a few days off from work, the male employee is unable to do the tasks the female employee would do such as cooking. The landlord realises this and acknowledges that not only can women do the work men can do, but that they deserve equal pay for equal work.
Collaboration and contextualization: From the classroom to the community
EL Build’s program comprises a total of 48 lessons, spread across 8 months of a school academic calendar. Each dynamic and interactive group-based session lasts for 90 minutes.
LOOK AND DO
Reconstructing models by looking at pre-constructed building-block models or pictures
LISTEN AND DO
Following simple to complex instructions to re-create models
IMAGINE AND DO
Using imagination and building blocks to create models
Learners begin at a basic level of usage of building blocks. This includes identifying types of blocks and colours. Complexity is introduced over the course of the lessons as students gradually gain comfort with the medium.
Students work individually and in teams, engaging in guided as well as free play. Teachers lead students through the process of identifying a problem, designing different solutions, building and testing models, culminating in sharing and presenting these with the wider group. Each session concludes with reflection circles and journaling, lending a concrete form to abstract concepts like growth mindset, self-reflection and empathy.
These concepts are given a
real-life context, through the connection of each idea in the classroom to the children’s own communities. This contextualization gives the teachers of the program an opportunity to include local and global folklore, festivals, local or national events as a part of the classes.
The EL Build sessions are also an opportunity for students to learn about and engage with the world outside of their villages and cities.
Teachers include a range of different themes and learning milestones for students. For example, last year, these included a storytelling month, challenge month and design-your-own-activities month.
Every month, these lessons outcomes and achievements are presented in the form of a milestone class in the last week.
Towards better social and emotional learning for children
Families who spend time playing together are known to be happier, less stressed and healthier. Studies suggest that children of these families grow to be emotionally stable and more ready to handle stressful situations.
EL Build includes parents in special identified lessons, giving them opportunities to play with their child. Often, children lead these sessions helping parents to become more conscious of their child’s potential. The program also treats teachers as playful learners too.
We believe that EL Build prepares children to take confident steps into unfamiliar territory through the language of ‘play’, and respond better to new challenges. After all, positive play within classrooms is in fact an intersection of the real world, the imagined world and digital innovations. EL Build works towards creating these invaluable learning experiences for students.
Elita Almeida
Project Associate, Public Engagement, Enabling Leadership
Rachit Sai Barak
Media Associate, Public Engagement, Enabling Leadership
Reha Bublani
Programs Director, Enabling Leadership
