ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with the premise that LEGO toys, as technological artifacts, embody certain forms of order and power. 1 LEGO toys have become common currency for certain understandings and explanations of how the socio-technical world is built. This is to say that LEGO toys are “forms of life” 2 in some parts of the world, woven into the everyday social and technological arrangements of childhood, popular culture, and education. The LEGO Group as a multinational corporation has reached into these arrangements at global, national, and local levels. This study focuses on the LEGO Group’s role in educational governance. Specifically, I examine how the LEGO robotics set, LEGO MINDSTORMS (including the RCX, NXT, NXT 2.0, and EV3 iterations), is situated within United States science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education reform. Through an analysis of educational discourses that advocate for the pedagogic application of MINDSTORMS in US STEM classrooms and extracurricular programs, I ask: Given that technologies can be built and arranged to “enhance the power, authority, and privilege of some over others”, 3 what are the politics of LEGO MINDSTORMS in US STEM education?
