LEGO storytelling: an initial observational study to enable children to become partners in their own assessment

This paper will explore the validity of an approach to assessment by reporting initial findings from pre study work with young children who have been observed playing with LEGO in a nursery setting. It will demonstrate how these interactions have informed our views on children as potential participants in their own assessment using traditional construction toys and the ways new technology could be used to truly listen and assess knowledge through the valuable medium of storytelling. Initial observations highlighted the following interesting aspects: (i) In the classroom, many of the “live” conversations that took place between the practitioner and the child were relatively shallow, rushed and interrupted. (ii) Video recordings of children enacting stories do not serve as the basis of a learning conversation as the children don't remember the story and are distracted by their own presence in the video. (iii) The children built stories with ready made objects and elemental objects rather than the more abstract bricks.
Keywords: Innovation, technology, research projects, assessment, storytelling LEGO, young children, Scottish Curriculum.