Information for schools and teachers
In this study, researchers from the University of Surrey, Loughborough University, University College Dublin and Birkbeck (the SPACE team) are using LEGO® to train spatial skills. An independent evaluation team from the Centre of Evidence & Implementation (CEI) will assess whether the SPACE programme is effective and feasible for teachers to deliver in Year 2 maths lessons. If your school has agreed to be part of the SPACE programme or you would like your school to participate in the SPACE programme, find out more about what the study involves here.
Why should my school take part in this research?
The research literature consistently reports a relationship between LEGO® activities and mathematics. With the help of your school, we aim to better understand this relationship, and to determine a feasible and scalable way to deliver Lego interventions to KS1 pupils within the Maths curriculum.
Your school will receive a summary of our findings. This will include suggestions for both parents and teachers of activities that you might like to do with the children that could have a positive impact on their maths abilities.
Who can take part?
We are recruiting children from Year 2. If the Headteacher of your school has given permission for the school to be involved in the study, we will ask participating teachers and TAs to consent to taking part, and parents/guardians of all eligible children will be informed about the project using a parental letter that is sent to them.
What happens next if we choose to participate?
One Year 2 class teacher (and optionally a TA and a member of the senior leadership team) will receive a half day of training by a team of experts from the University of Surrey, to implement the intervention during maths lessons at the start of the Autumn 2023 term, for delivery that term. Training will draw on our popular Spatial Reasoning Toolkit and will include full instructions on how to implement the intervention, information on what spatial reasoning is, and research evidence of the importance of spatial reasoning for maths. Teachers / TAs will be supported to deliver SPACE throughout.
All participating children will complete twelve 30-minute, Lego construction sessions led by their teacher over 6 weeks as part of their normal maths lessons. Teachers will also run a 45-minute test at the start and end of the study period to measure the children’s spatial and mathematics skills before and after the intervention.
Will I be given the results of the children’s tests?
The results from our measures will not be used to indicate an individual child’s talent and/or interest in maths or spatial abilities. All data will be anonymised and we will not be in a position to provide you with any child’s individual results. However, your school will receive a summary of our findings. This will include suggestions for both parents and teachers of activities that you might like to do with the children that could have a positive impact on their maths abilities.
