{"id":67155,"date":"2026-09-04T04:58:39","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T19:58:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phys-edu.net\/wp\/?p=67155"},"modified":"2026-09-04T04:58:39","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T19:58:39","slug":"900-million-possibilities-from-just-6-blocks-what-lego-ducks-teach-us-about-the-joy-of-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phys-edu.net\/wp\/?p=67155&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"900 Million Possibilities from Just 6 Blocks! What LEGO Ducks Teach Us About the Joy of Thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m Ken Kuwako, your Science Trainer. Every day is an experiment.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

If someone told you, \u201cBuild a duck using six blocks,\u201d what kind of duck would you imagine? Surprisingly, even if you gave the exact same instructions to an entire class, no two ducks would ever turn out exactly alike. This simple little \u201cduck-building\u201d activity ended up changing the way my students approached science experiments. Let me tell you how.<\/p>\n

Telling students, \u201cBe more proactive!\u201d or \u201cGet involved!\u201d only gets you so far. On the other hand, when students carry out an experiment without a clear sense of purpose, their conclusions often end up looking like something copied straight from the textbook. What I really want is for them to look at their experimental results and come up with their own ideas about what those results might mean.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where the \u201cDuck Workshop\u201d using LEGO Education came in. I started inserting this five-minute activity just before experiments, and little by little, I began to see a change in the way students engaged with their experiments.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s Build a Duck with LEGO!<\/h3>\n

Inside each bag are six LEGO bricks.<\/p>\n

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Using these six bricks, each student builds their own duck. The fun part is that they can use all six pieces or only some of them. They have just one minute. Ready, set, build!<\/p>\n

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Once everyone has finished, students show their creations to the people sitting nearby. They explain their designs to their neighbors and talk about why they built their ducks the way they did.<\/p>\n

Why Did You Put the Beak There? \u2014 Discoveries Through Conversation<\/h3>\n

Students put their design choices into words, explaining things like why they decided to place the beak in a particular spot. Then, their classmates get a chance to ask questions. Once this exchange is over, we line up all the ducks on the desks and take a good look at them together.<\/p>\n

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When you actually do this activity, each student starts out thinking, \u201cWell, obviously, this is what a duck looks like!\u201d But when all the finished creations are placed side by side, you can\u2019t help but be amazed by the incredible variety of \u201cducks\u201d sitting in front of you.<\/p>\n

Not a single one is exactly the same.<\/p>\n

In other words, students can see right before their eyes that there isn\u2019t always just one correct answer.<\/p>\n

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A World of \u201cAbout 900 Million Possibilities\u201d from Just Six Bricks<\/h3>\n

As it turns out, there\u2019s some fascinating mathematics behind this diversity. In theory, there are 24 possible combinations when you connect two basic bricks with eight studs each. With three bricks, that number jumps to 1,060. And with six bricks, you can create an astonishing 900 million different configurations. Every additional brick makes the number of possibilities explode.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s another fascinating mathematical world hiding inside a simple LEGO activity.<\/p>\n

The important thing is that none of these creations is \u201cwrong.\u201d Each student has their own idea of what a duck should look like, and this activity makes that beautifully clear. Students also naturally begin noticing what is interesting about other people\u2019s creations. Before long, you start hearing comments from all around the room like, \u201cOh, I never thought of building it that way!\u201d<\/p>\n

There Isn\u2019t Always Just One \u201cAnswer\u201d in the Real World<\/h3>\n

In the real world, there is rarely just one answer to a problem. In fact, sometimes we don\u2019t even know what the actual problem is in the first place.<\/p>\n

As this duck activity shows us, the themes teachers present, the ways students approach them, and the answers they come up with can all be virtually limitless. It seems that LEGO\u2019s philosophy is that this diversity is precisely what makes us human.<\/p>\n

This is how I use the activity, but there are plenty of other possibilities, too. For example, one biology teacher told me that they use the activity at the beginning of a classification lesson and then have students classify the ducks they have created.<\/p>\n

Ducks with legs. Ducks without legs. Ducks with red beaks. Ducks with yellow beaks.<\/p>\n

Students can practice classifying the same collection of objects from all sorts of different perspectives. I think it\u2019s a wonderfully flexible activity that can be used not only in science, but also in biology and other subjects.<\/p>\n

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Amazon sometimes shows the item as out of stock<\/a>, but when I contacted Narika Co., Ltd. directly, I was able to purchase it in bulk.<\/p>\n

The \u201cDuck Workshop\u201d is simple, versatile, and surprisingly useful. Why not give it a try in your own classroom?<\/p>\n

Contact & Requests<\/h3>\n

I want to make the wonders and excitement of science a little more accessible to everyone! On this blog, I share fun science experiments you can try at home, along with easy-to-understand tips and tricks. Feel free to explore and search around!
\n\u30fbThe Science Notes blog has now been published as a book. For more information, click here<\/a>.
\n\u30fbFor more information about me, Ken Kuwako, click here<\/a>.
\n\u30fbFor inquiries and requests, including writing, lectures, science workshops, TV science supervision, and appearances, click here<\/a>.
\n\u30fbFor updates on new articles, follow me on X<\/a>!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Science Notes Channel<\/a> features videos of science experiments!<\/p>\n

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