Learning through play, serious research

A book scanner that turns pages, a stair-climber that overcomes obstacles, a bottle opener that automates the opening process, and robots that recognise, sort or extract data from LEGO figures: What sounds like a playroom has been a serious teaching format at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg for the past 15 years. In the ‘LEGO practical’, students learn how an idea is turned into a functioning technical system and why failure is often the most productive part of learning.

Officially, the course is called the ‘Project Seminar in Electrical Engineering/Information Technology (LEGO Mindstorms)’. The more popular name comes from the students themselves. For two weeks during the semester break, they work alone or in pairs on robots and automated machines made from LEGO Technic parts, motors, sensors, gears, chain drives and programmable bricks. They choose the tasks themselves: some machines collect objects, draw lines, build bridges, play noughts and crosses, dispense soap or open bottles. Others detect colours, shapes or movements, thereby demonstrating how sensor readings are turned into data sets.

This is where the seminar’s social relevance lies: digitalisation, automation and artificial intelligence begin where the real world and data converge. Anyone building a robot that recognises LEGO figures must structure camera images or sensor data, understand sources of error, test algorithms and explain results in a way that is easy to follow. These are skills that are also needed in medical technology, industrial automation, mobility and energy technology.

The aim of introducing the seminar was to enable students to gain practical experience of the theory at an earlier stage. “The idea was that students could work on something practical whilst still deepening their programming skills and also learning non-technical skills such as teamwork and time management,” says Mathias Magdowski from the Chair of Electromagnetic Compatibility. Initially, there were reservations: people asked whether a seminar involving LEGO might sound a bit too much like nursery school. The bricks proved their worth because they enable quick results: build, test, modify.

It is precisely this principle that makes the practical course modern. It teaches MATLAB, loops, functions, data structures and debugging, but also fosters an approach that is crucial in technical professions: problems are solved iteratively. If a gripper arm slips, a sensor delivers incorrect readings or a robot gets stuck on an edge, mechanics, electronics and software must all be considered together. In this way, playful materials give rise to a realistic insight into engineering work.

This anniversary also highlights just how much teaching has opened up. The results do not remain confined to the seminar room. Students document their projects in videos, progress updates are shared on social media, and since the COVID-19 pandemic, final presentations have been streamed from the studio and conference room at the STIMULATE medical technology research campus and subsequently published on YouTube. In addition, students’ reports are published in an open-access series by the University Library. This transforms an examination result into science communication: the public can see how technical ideas take shape and just how much creativity is involved in an engineering degree.

For the students, this visibility is both recognition and training. “The presentation is further confirmation of the students’ efforts, as they know that it is not just three lecturers who are looking at their results, but also the interested public,” says Magdowski. After 15 years, the LEGO internship demonstrates how university teaching prepares young people for a working world in which technology must be made understandable and developed as part of a team.

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