Building and Narration with Lego® Serious Play®: a Universal Design Perspective for Inclusion

Abstract Book of the 10th International Conference on Teaching, Learning and Education

Year: 2025

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Building and Narration with Lego® Serious Play®: a Universal Design Perspective for Inclusion

Francesca Placanica, Giorgia Jaccard-Mora, Stefano Tardini, Rosa Sgambelluri

ABSTRACT:

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP), developed in the late 1990s as a device for strategic facilitation, has progressively consolidated as a participatory and creative methodology, grounded in constructivism, constructionism, and the use of metaphors as tools of embodied cognition (thinking by hands). Although it is not an educational method per se, LSP resonates with pedagogical traditions that emphasise concreteness and manual activity: from Montessori it inherits the idea of “thinking with the hands,” while Papert’s constructionism highlights the role of cognitive artefacts as mediators of knowledge-building and narration. This paper explores how LSP can be reframed through a perspective of universal design for inclusion, without altering its methodological structure, but by introducing adjustments consistent with the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). In this perspective, UDL provides the theoretical framework guiding the design of accessible environments and practices through multiple means of representation (multimodal prompts, high-contrast visual supports), multiple means of action and expression (inclusive facilitation, alternative narrative formats), and multiple means of engagement (flexible timing, safe settings, recognition of diverse contributions). The contribution aims to enrich the international debate on the relationship between participatory methodologies and universal design principles, highlighting how LSP, when properly adapted, may serve as an inclusive device capable of enabling the participation of all learners and workers in educational, academic, and organisational contexts, thereby democratising the construction and sharing of meaning.

Keywords: Accessibility, Constructionism, Inclusion, Lego® Serious Play®, Universal Design