Use of lego bricks in social pedagogical work with socially disadvantaged children

In my master thesis I conducted research focused on the effectiveness of lego bricks in the social pedagogical work based on educational workshops designed especially for this purpose. The theoretical part of my master thesis was based on the theory of play, the needs of children from socially disadvantaged families, the protective factor of summer holidays and the lego based theory, founded by Daniel LeGoff. I also made use of the findings of previously carried out foreign and Slovenian research related to the use of lego bricks in the pedagogy. In the empirical part of the paper I presented the action research that I conducted as part of my master thesis. The purpose of this research was to verify the effectiveness of lego bricks in educational work with socially disadvantaged children. The research was carried out with socially disadvantaged children who spent their summer at the resort 'Mladinsko zdravilišče in letovišče Debeli rtič'. Action research consisted of six basic phases and seventeen flexible action steps. Five thematic educational workshops were prepared. Workshops were based on peer relationships, cooperative work, promotion of creativity and strengthening of social competence. The study involved thirty-five children aged from six to ten years old, their teachers, the organizer of pedagogical activities at the resort and a social worker who was part of the Slovenian LEGO project group. All the data was collected through the use of questionnaires for the teachers, children and professional workers, and through the data collected in a research diary. In Slovenia, this kind of therapy approach is not yet used in practice. However, due to the positive impact it has on children, this approach is becoming increasingly more popular for use in the more developed countries. The significance of the findings in this master thesis lies in the fact that lego bricks proved to be an incredibly valuable didactic tool in the social pedagogical work with children and adolescents. Based on the conducted research, I contributed to the case of the original teaching method, as well as to the recognition of the value of lego bricks as a didactic tool for social pedagogues