Bio
Duane received a Master’s Degree in Art Education from the University of Kentucky in 2004 and then taught art and video production in Fayette County Public Schools for 18 years. During that time he was also a regular teacher for the Living Arts and Science Center summer art classes teaching drawing, painting, and film production. He retired from his career as a public school teacher in 2022 and since then he and his wife have been running the Brick Mobile- a mobile education business that uses thousands of Lego bricks to teach STEM subjects in schools and libraries around Kentucky. It is because of Duane’s background in art and his lifelong interest in Lego that he has been able to combine his passions to create lessons that mix the creativity of art with STEM content. Duane is a big believer in Lego as a medium for creation and seeks to show how those popular little bricks can be used to build much more than toys. Indeed, he uses them to demonstrate principles in physics, engineering, math, and art.
Duane has also become known for his mosaics made from Lego bricks. He has created dozens of mosaics. Some were commissioned by private individuals and some have been selected to be on display in galleries throughout central Kentucky. The subjects of his mosaics are portraits, are over 4 feet tall, and are made with over 8000 Lego pieces. In addition to the mosaics he makes in his studio, he has also worked with communities by helping them to build mosaics for businesses and schools.
Potential Residency Project
I have several ready-made lessons that can be modified for a number of grade levels. However, I also am open to creating original lessons for each school and teacher based on their own curriculum needs. It is my hope that the lessons I bring will enhance and further the content already being taught so as to give the students a chance to learn the content with a very hands on experience with Lego bricks.
Here are three lessons I have created that go well with multiple grade levels. As these lessons are all done in one class period, I can see multiple grades throughout a week.
Tower Tumbler
The Tower Tumbler is what I call the skyscraper challenge I go over with students. It is named after a device I bring into the classroom that can simulate earthquakes. With modifications for each grade level, this lesson goes well with students 1st through 8th grade. The lesson is based on the engineering challenge of building both tall and strong. I go over the history of tall buildings, designs of skyscrapers, the ancient pyramids, and real world construction methods. I then demonstrate how to use those construction methods with Lego bricks. The students are then given access to thousands of Lego bricks and tasked with building a tower that is both tall and strong enough to survive the tower tumbler device. The challenge for students is to recognize how to use the very large variety of types of Lego pieces to build a tower.
Elastic Potential
This lesson is based on rubber band powered cars. The students will use Lego bricks to create a rubber band powered car and then modify it through a series of experiments. There are a number of things being taught through this lesson including use of a scale, measuring tape, teamwork, potential energy, and Newton’s Laws of Motion.
The students will work in teams to create a Lego car powered by a rubber band. They then measure the weight of that car and the distance it can travel. The students are asked the essential question, “Will the car travel farther if it is heavier?” There is a discussion about the law of inertia and potential energy. The students then modify their cars by adding more bricks to it and thereby making them heavier. This is where students can design the car as they want with all their creativity. They weigh the cars again to make sure it is significantly heavier and then launch them to see how far they travel. Another essential question they will be challenged by is, “How will the strength of the rubber band, weight of the car, and size of the tires effect the distance the car can travel?” Students are then encouraged to try different rubber bands and different tires to see how they may affect the distance traveled.
School Mosaic
This is an art lesson in creating a mosaic for the school. This can be done across multiple grade levels with the goal of all students getting a chance to help build a large scale mosaic to be on display in the school.
The first day of the lesson would be me coming to the school to teach a lesson in how to use legos to build a mosaic through an understanding of color theory and composition. The students get a chance to make a small scale mosaic as a practice of using the method that will be used in creating the final large scale one. Each student will get a 5 inch square lego plate to create their own section for a mosaic and then we assemble them all together in order to see how the colors of the pieces affect each other. The students will be tasked with creating the design for the final large scale mosaic.
About a month before I arrive there will need to be a final design for the mosaic. The students can come up with something or use the school name, logo, or mascot. The size of the mosaic can be as big as it needs to be. I need the month to order the pieces and make sure I have all the materials necessary when I arrive. The creation of the mosaic is done by breaking up the mosaic into as many number of sections as needed and each student getting a 5 inch square lego plate to put together each part of the mosaic. I will supply a picture of what each section should look like and the student copies that picture to create their section. The mosaics are built on 10x10 inch baseplates and so a 60x90 inch mosaic (roughly 5 feet by 8 feet) would need 216 five inch square sections (or 216 students if they are all creating them individually). The final work will be able to be mounted to a wall