Navigation : EXPO21XX > ROBOTICS 21XX > H27: Junior Robotics > Hands On Technologies
  • Offer Profile
  • Hands On subscribes to the belief that learning should take place through construction rather than instruction.

    Educational solutions from LEGO Education are based on a problem-solving approach. They help students learn to work together on solving challenging problems, providing them with an important basis for acquiring a wide range of personal skills for the future by: 

    Promoting creative thinking
    Improving communication and co-operation skills Strengthening the ability to acquire new knowledge

Product Portfolio
  • WHAT IS LEGO EDUCATION

  • LEGO Education is the division of LEGO Company that is dedicated to the field of teaching and learning. LEGO Education develops learning concepts that inspire students to use their creativity and innate curiosity through experiencing things themselves. LEGO Education’s learning concepts include teacher’s guides and student materials that help you adapt your teaching to meet official curricula. All LEGO Education learning concepts are based on comprehensive scientific research.Involving learners in fun activities, using both the Hands On curriculum and LEGO Educational products, allows for an environment where an understanding of technological concepts is easily achieved.
  • LEARNING PHILOSOPHY

  • Optimum challenge for optimum learning
    Children don't need to be pushed too hard, nor under-stimulated. The key is to build on their acquired knowledge and push the boundaries of this knowledge into new areas. We all love learning on the edge - and products from LEGO Education allow each child to find his or her own edge in the crucial early years.

    Step-by-step learning
    It is essential to realise that learning is a step-by-step process. At LEGO Education, step-by-step learning is a core element of the Hands On curriculum. Our aim is to allow individual learners to work at their own pace, giving them time to develop the knowledge and abilities required before moving on to the next learning stage, where the challenges are a little tougher - and a little more fun.
    • All children are great learners

    • Building on children's natural instinct to explore and always learn more is important not only in school, but also later in life when children grow up to become part of a constantly changing society. A society, which does not ask for the reproduction of knowledge, but for ideas, creativity and new ways of thinking.

      From birth, children have the wonderful gift of intuitively wanting to learn. LEGO Educationl concepts support children as explorers and intuitive learners by being open-ended and building on choice and diversity in a congenial learning environment.

      By combining carefully designed construction materials with thorough teachers' curriculum guides and student activities, LEGO Education strikes the right balance of challenge, knowledge, and skills. With LEGO Education learning becomes less abstract and more enjoyable. In turn, children are enthusiastic and motivated, thus learning optimally.

      Always keeping children's educational needs as our vital concern, with teachers as our trusted partners, LEGO Education learning concepts enable children to construct, learn and grow in fruitful and rewarding learning environments.
    • Growing your brain

    • Learning happens in the brain. All our thoughts, behaviour, movements, talk, and sounds – all you do is a result of our brain cells (neurons) making connections. Learning and memory is not a thing, it is a process. The latest cognitive research now indicates that "heritage can be enriched" - that the brain has plasticity. We have the brain cells that we were born with (or less), but it possible to change the structure of our mind, improve our mind's flexibility and ability to make new connections – to think.

      Brain research has shown that the plasticity of the brain is improved the more the brain is introduced to problem-solving tasks. Our brain literally grows, becomes heavier the more it is challenged and used.
    • The learning cycle

    • The level-of-difficulty argument, on which the LEGO Education philosophy rests, is quite simple: If you’re insufficiently challenged you learn next to nothing. On the other hand if you’re challenged way beyond your abilities, you may give up before you begin and not even try to solve the problem. Again, you learn nothing. But if you are in a learning environment which challenges you optimally as you develop your skills and acquire new knowledge, you will be encouraged to explore, understand and keep on learning.

      The emotionally rewarding state of flow emerging from having hard fun is what motivates us to learn. But what makes learning last in our minds?
      We believe optimal learning will not come from giving more instruction but rather, from giving children better opportunities to construct. When children construct things in the physical world they simultaneously construct knowledge in their minds. This new knowledge then enables them to create ever more sophisticated solutions yielding more knowledge and so on in a self-reinforcing cycle.

      LEGO Education learning concepts encourage students as architects in building knowledge supporting their natural curiosity. In short, what you learn in the process of creation sinks much deeper than what anyone can tell you. We call it learning by making.
  • SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL CURRICULUM

  • The National Curriculum Statement Grades R – 12, implemented in January 2012, represents a policy statement for learning and teaching in South African schools and comprises of the National Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) for each approved school subject.
    This curriculum aims to ensure that children acquire and apply knowledge and skills in ways that are meaningful to their own lives.

    LEGO Education has spent years researching and developing specialised LEGO kits and curriculum material to engage pupils in activities that assist with the conceptualisation of many concepts required in the subjects offered at school. Hands on Technologies has worked extensively with CAPS documentation and has aligned the curriculum content of subjects (listed below) accordingly.

    What makes this learning experience so unique?

    The teachers receive:
    • A teacher’s guide for working with the kits and learner content
    • Conceptual guides
    • Year plans & Lesson plans
    • Extension activities & Research ideas
    • Assessment sheets / rubrics
    The learners receive:
    Curricular workbooks ( or electronic copies ) with:

    • an introduction to new concepts
    • guided investigation activities
    • model building using the concepts
    • design, make and test exercises
    • extension activities
    • portfolio work
    • assessment rubrics
    The schools receive:
    • Kits that last for years
    • Re-useable technology equipment that is neat and easy to store
    • Full colour building instructions for numerous models
    • Training for the teachers
    • Foundation Phase

    • Mathematics, Language and Life Skills
      Using LEGO and DUPLO products in conjunction with curricular workbooks developed by Hands On in South Africa, teachers will be amazed at just how much of the curriculum content can be taught with this unique product.
      Curricular workbooks include:
      Back to Basics with Bricks
      Soft Bricks
      Theme Sets
      Builder One
      Builder Two
    • Intermediate Phase

    • Mathematics, Natural Science, Technology and integration with other subjects such as Languages, Geography, Life Orientation.

      Integration with other subjects: auditory and visual memory/discrimination, vocabulary development, problem solving, measurement, graphing, data handling, divergent thinking, concept development, and many more.

       
    • Senior Phase

    • Technology , Mathematics, Science
  • HOME SCHOOL OPTIONS

    • HS BUILDER

    • Grade R to Grade 3
    • HS SIMPLE MACHINES

    • Grade 4 to Grade 7
    • HS ROBOTICS

    • Grade 6 to Grade 12
  • Atteridgeville Project

  • Developing Talents Through Creative Play
    Research has shown that learning is more effective when learners are actively involved in the learning process. Learners learn best when they construct something that they find personally meaningful. Herein lies the basis of the project.Primary Schools - Grade R to 7 - [ 5 Schools a year for the next 5 years ] Numbers

    ◄ Schools are provided with a full range of LEGO Educational kits & support material
    ◄ Teachers receive initial & on-going training plus teacher guides & activity packs
    ◄ Learners ( Grade 4 to 7 ) receive workbooks
    .Kits & Support material : ...Junior ....Intermediate

    The curricular material and training is designed with the understanding that learners cannot simply be given knowledge; they must actively build their own theories and marry new information to their existing views. It is also based on the belief that children learn well through creative or constructive play.
  • WHY USE LEGO TO TEACH TECHNOLOGY ?

      • WHY USE LEGO TO TEACH TECHNOLOGY ?

      • Technology has emerged as one of the greatest factors affecting change in our lives. Hands On has developed a solution that provides children with the necessary skills to approach a technological society with confidence.
        Stimulating learning through the use of creativity, imagination and manipulatives is considered by many experts to be more relevant than ever before. Hands On involves presenting children with a need, challenge or problem and supplying them with a variety of materials that they can use, put together or construct something with which to solve the problem at hand.
        We encourage real research, individual learning styles and true co-operation often using the actual school themes as our vehicle. We present children with a range of experiences and situations that help them to develop their design and technology capabilities.
  • Robotics Project

  • As technology becomes increasingly more important in the world today, it is critical that the youth not only learn how to use technology, but also understand how to create it. Robotics provides us with a perfect solution. Robotics introduces young students to engineering and motivates them to be involved in creating future technology. In addition, robotics allows young students to develop invaluable skills such as problem-solving, logical reasoning, critical thinking and creativity.

    Hands On Technologies is already involved in an Early Childhood Development Project entitled "Developing Talents Through Creative Play". It is based on the belief that children learn well through creative or constructive play. We believe that learning is more effective when learners are actively involved in the learning process. Learners learn best when they construct something that they find personally meaningful. We are already seeing the benefits of this project in over 15 schools in Atteridgeville.
    However, we now have some learners who leave these primary schools with a heightened awareness, ability and interest in maths, science and technology, and we do not yet have a way to harness and develop this potential. We really would like to be able to provide them with a platform to continue their development and build on their new talents. We want to encourage girls in particular, but work with all learners who demonstrate an interest or ability. We plan to work with these learners throughout their high school years and better prepare them for tertiary education.
    The township high schools do not have many extra-mural activities for these learners or opportunities for them to pursue these new interests. It is during these years that learners, particularly girls, fall prey to less positive influences and even though they have ability, many often do not complete their schooling or go on to demonstrate their true potential.

    As technology becomes increasingly more important in the world today, it is critical that the youth not only learn how to use technology, but also understand how to create it. Robotics provides us with a perfect solution. Robotics introduces young students to engineering and motivates them to be involved in creating future technology. In addition, robotics allows young students to develop invaluable skills such as problem-solving, logical reasoning, critical thinking and creativity.
    Robotics is seen as an exciting learning area around the world at the moment, and in South Africa we have two main robotic competitions that we want to get young black learners involved in. Currently, both FIRST LEGO League (FLL) and World Robot Olympiad (WRO) have hardly any black teams participating, and none have ever represented South Africa at a World Championship. The intention of this project is to dramatically change this. Over thirty teams a year will be trained, prepared and entered into these competitions. We also plan to continue working with these learners, to track their progress during high school and to ensure they continue with maths and science.
    Our proposal is for an innovative, unconventional robotics pilot that could not only serve, but also protect township learners.The idea of making technology hip and taking technology to the learners is interesting in that we use students from the community to visit and train the learners in the community. One of the real innovative and exciting ideas is the backpack idea – allowing us to keep the technology safe and working – but also giving us the flexibility to train anywhere.
    We really hope that through an intervention like this, we will be able to show that we can assist more young black learners to enter the fields of science and engineering.
  • Care for Education

  • Only the best is good enough.” This was the motto of Ole Kirk Kristiansen, founder of the LEGO Group, and it is the cornerstone of the LEGO Foundation’s We Care and Share philanthropy programmes, which include Care for Education. These programmes aim to inspire children and young people to develop into responsible members of society through fun, learning and high-quality creative play activities.

    The Care for Education programme co-operates with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Foundations, Embassies and other private companies that have the same philanthropic goals. Together, we reach out to underprivileged children around the world, with the purpose of giving them an education that meets the demands of the 21st Century.

    The Care for Education Programme provides LEGO Education resources and training for schools, and supports participation in Robotics competitions. Care for Education also supports local crèches, schools, orphanages and underprivileged children by donating LEGO Charity Boxes.
      • LEGO CHARITY DONATIONS

      • Since 2008, we have assisted with the distribution of LEGO charity boxes ( DUPLO and LEGO ) on behalf of Care for Education, a division of The LEGO Foundation.

        We have distributed LEGO Charity Boxes and LEGO Education Kits to deserving institutions, to less privileged learners at schools and day care centres, to organizations doing the most amazing work with children and to remarkable individuals who make a real difference in the communities they live in. We are proud to have been associated with so many amazing people. Thank you for allowing us to share the joy with you.