The Serious Use of Play and Metaphor: Legos and Labyrinths

Serious Play In Action

Let’s turn to a concrete example of LSP in action for 130 international students on a Diploma course designed to prepare them for progression to a UK fashion course with a design, business or media orientation. In this introductory course LSP was used to help students make sense of the experience of studying abroad. It was part of an innovative program intended to engage students through drawing, visual research and professional practice, and to introduce them to concepts of cultural and historical theory as well as more traditional academic components of study. The overwhelming majority of students did not speak English as a first language, and they came from a broad range of countries – China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Korea, Europe, as well as the USA and Australia.

The context for the specific use of Lego building was a three-hour workshop run by Alison on personal and professional development, in which students reflected on how they had grown and changed during their study abroad, and how their abilities, dispositions and relationships had evolved. LSP was applied at a time of student transition when the participants were coming towards the end of their preparatory studies and needing to consider options and next steps.