Life Lab
Today’s Students. Tomorrow’s World.
Resilience, Creative and Analytical problem solving
An engaging program for young people to achieve their potential in cognitive and psychological flexibility through an innovative and integrated Curriculum based learning program. Aimed to bolster youth, teaching them skills that young people need to acquire; Resilience, Creative and Analytical problem solving through logical, flexible, strategic and adventurous thinking and hands-on experiential learning opportunities.
Audience and Objectives
The main objectives of the program include;
- To correctly identify life situations in three categories; (Problems to solve, Polarities to manage, Life situations to cope with)
- To use the appropriate problem-solving strategies and tools for each situation; solving complex problems effectively.
- Supporting young people to build their own portfolio of skills and develop flexibility to address each situation
- Having young people use present moment awareness so they can make effective choices for themselves; Responding rather than reacting.
- To induce the capacity to communicate with empathy, embrace difference and neurological and cultural diversity.
As facilators of the program, we do not assume to know what is good for everyone – rather, we aim to provide resources which empower young people, offering applicable strategies for them to make more effective choices needed to arrive closer to their ideal outcome.
This program is designed to be practical and relatable to all youth ages and capabilities. Each concept is personable and speaks to the whole-self.
Participants gain additional insights to their preferred ways of thinking, learning and doing for themselves and for others.
Mediation techniques used include drawing, LEGO® Serious Play® methodology, Drumming techniques, Puppets and the Empathy Toy®. These can be adapted to the resources available.
Each lesson incorporates individual and group reflections. Part of the learning is being able to recognise when help is needed and effectively seeking help.
Skills developed
Further skills which are developed relating to the curriculum include:
- Listening
- Sharing
- Participating
- Storytelling
- Situational awareness
- Problem Solving
- Personal creativity
- Critical and Creative thinking
- Social and Emotional Capabilities
Your facilitators
Mark Harling
Senior Consultant | Facilitator | Therapist
I am a business consultant – creative facilitator – Person Centred Approach therapist. I support individuals and organisations on their transformation journeys, helping them create the conditions for success.
After training as a Mechanical engineer and many years in multiple industries solving complex technical problems, I was facing a wall: my role required me to engage 2700 people in one direction and I just didn’t know how to do that. Thus started a journey of personal discovery and growth that eventually led me to become a Person Centred Approach therapist and supervisor. Over time, I have learnt to integrate seamlessly my industrial experience and personal development skills in my work, creating meaningful impacts on company culture in the fields of manufacturing performance, innovation, and strategy. I now specializes in corporate strategy and transformation through culture change, helping organizations to evolve towards new natural habits of thinking and doing. I use applied creativity and Lego Serious Play to support my work on social innovation and applied complexity.
I’m an eternal learner and questioner. I seek to make a contribution to people and organisations reaching their full potential. During our time together, I will strive to help you understand your strengths and gain awareness about your inner processes.
Angela Pezzano
Educator | Facilitator | Dot Joiner
With over 20 years’ experience in the Education and Creative sectors, I have a strong passion and understanding of the role of creative problem solving for teams and individuals. This has been the drive for me to find tools, techniques and people to allow for collaborative, empathetic and engaging opportunities.
My various education, experience and roles have gifted me significant knowledge and skills in teaching, project management, broad stakeholder engagement and workshop facilitation. Integrating diverse elements such as LEGO® Serious Play®, The Empathy Toy® and Music/Drama Story Sharing platforms allows me to provide an innovative, adaptable and potential-seeking approach to me professional and personal being – inviting people to think differently therefore do differently.
Not afraid of asking the hard questions, I consider that conversations are about listening and usually always worth having and that they just aren’t as complete until they include a “Yes, and..” or “What if…”
Blog: What’s going on with Life Lab?
Sweetly Suited Learner
Our first online Life Lab sessions have been a rich experience. We connected with students in their kitchens, their lounges, at their dinner tables. We met their cats, helping grown-ups and some teddies. Some were costumed, some wrapped in blankets, some bare foot and...
Literally delivering the virtual Life Lab
We were thrilled to follow the Easter Bunny’s tracks but this time to safely deliver the LEGO kits to the letterboxes of students so they could participate in the Life Lab online program which launched this week!
Life Lab | Today’s Students. Tomorrow’s World.
A short video giving an insight about Life Lab.
From Ground Rules to Air Rules
With students and teachers heading into remote learning in the term ahead, Life Lab is no exception with it's content and format adapting so as to continue to engage children in their learning and further developing and practising life skills. We'll take our ground...
Lunchbox learning
Amongst a Life Experience Life Lab lesson where 7 year old’s are learning about responding to their emotions rather than reacting, one of our many delightful students approached us during their eating lunch time – quite upset and crinkled forehead – so we knew this...
Responding or reacting?
In this Life Lab experience we gave 5 and 6 year old students a situation and asked them what would be an appropriate response, which they all knew - intellectually – how to address. Through the use of drumming on the Djembes, we did an activity whereby they...
Balancing out polarities
It does spark joy when young children are grasping concepts, sharing mature responses and can add ‘Polarity’ to their vocabulary – and actually know what it means. Their LEGO builds during this lesson embodied the multiple perspectives of polarities. Unexpectedly the...
Polarity Henchman comes to (Lego Serious) Play
There was somewhat hesitation writing the learning intention for a group of 7-year old’s this week; asking them to identify the difference between a problem and a polarity, understanding with a polarity, it’s not about a solution but a balance of the 2 parts they are...
Lego Serious Play Addiction
Whilst our Life Lab program was going to use LEGO® Serious Play® every now and then as a tool for students to debrief and further understand their learning, it’s apparent now if I don’t bring the LEGO® to my next session, there may well be a mutiny. We had planned an...
I Promise not to break my Promise
The Problem Henchmen presented an example in class this week, when our junior students learned and used Clarifying skills to define what a problem is and is there anything we can do about it? Their shared and agreed problem to use as an example was; When people break...
Pushing the margins in Life Lab
More happenings on our Life Lab pilot: this week, Angela Pezzano saw a difference between 5 year olds who jumped on the task with unburdened colour and energy, and 12 year olds who have been moulded by school constraints... Here is her account: "Pushing the Margins in...
Life Lab Genesis
This post describes the genesis of the Life Lab School Program and the intention behind it. Half of my experience in industry was spent finding ways to solve problems - mostly technical ones with a sprinkle of human ones. I dealt with complex issues and revelled in...
Testimonials: Why we get up in the morning
As COVID-19 sweeps the world and life as we know it has been turned on its head, the LifeLab program has been of invaluable support for my daughter to work through a myriad of emotions and challenges that the pandemic has unleashed. My daughter particularly enjoyed the problem mapping exercises, in which she drew and worked through troubles that she was facing. The process itself was a lot of fun and it really helped elucidate her personal life struggles, reduce her anxiety and improve her wellbeing. There couldn’t be a more important time than now for my daughter to be practising the life skills learned through LifeLab.
I just wanted to drop you a note, providing feedback on the LifeLab sessions you ran last year. LifeLab was my sons absolute favourite thing to do during the lockdown. He would line up his LEGO so that he was ready to go well before the lesson commenced. I was a little hesitant, as I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. It teaches the children that everyone does see things differently and how to work through a problem and a great way for the younger children to provide non verbal responses to your questions.I particularly loved the extra effort you made with the upbeat music and the end of your session, a great way to end a positive time. While we are extremely disappointed that home schooling is again a reality, programs like LifeLab is a key enabler to keep our kids engaged and connected. A big thank you also from my son.
I found the sessions to be highly practical and hands on giving the children loads of flexibility while they are learning about everyday problems that require solving. This is so important for developing future life and work skills where innovation and problem solving are essential in the 21st century. As a parent, this is something I want my child to be prepared for.
My 6 and almost 8 year old looked forward to their LifeLab sessions with Angela every time. They smiled with anticipation as the lessons started.
I think it’s a valuable interaction on the virtual platform for all the children (and parents – as it’s the only time they don’t seem to need to be assisted).
Angela engages the children with creative learning, allowing them to solve various problems in a fresh and fun, playful way through LEGO. This definitely keeps the children interested. Learning with choices is very clever. Angela has a way of connecting with all the children, as she is great and has clear communication which helps the children stayed focused.
It is a fantastic blend of learning language, literacy and numeracy skills, developing fine motor skills and encouraging creativity all at the same time.
All abilities and learning styles are catered for in this program making it highly appealing to me as a parent. With my daughter being a highly creative and visual learner, her needs were supported, she was engaged and she thrived.
I particularly loved how children worked individually on their problems using the “Who what when where and why” model to help them to make decisions regarding their solutions. This is a skill I highly value and one that I forget to use as an adult. This highlights how the program encourages life long learners. Learners that are ready for their future.
Angela Pezzano is a great facilitator, directing the children enough but also giving them heaps of autonomy, independence and encouragement.
It worked so well during remote learning, so I could only imagine how interactive it would be in a face to face session.
As the name suggests, LifeLab is a great resource for life, it’s a brilliant addition to mainstream learning and I feel it should be incorporated into the curriculum of all year levels.
Life Lab was a highlight of my two children’s remote learning. Angela captured my children’s attention and had them engaged throughout her session. They smiled whilst building and enjoyed the interaction with Angela. Chloe loved putting the Lego together and enjoyed how Angela delivered the class involving her and her friends. Noah loves Lego but also enjoyed solving life issues with face to face learning.
Hi Miss Angela thanks for the lovely lesson
Just a really quick email to say I think Life Lab is brilliant. I really am very impressed with the whole idea of it all and I think Angela is wonderful.
Just wanted to send a big THANK YOU for organising the Life Lab Lego session this week. [My child] really enjoyed your session, especially to be able to work with Lego, see his friends on the screen and working with his classmates again put a huge smile on his face. It was awesome to see. Well done.