Meet The SXSW Edu Speakers: Dr. Jenny Nash

Dr. Jenny Nash serves as the Head of Education Impact for LEGO Education in the United States, where she provides direction and leadership in delivering meaningful education opportunities for students. Dr. Nash has experience as a middle school teacher, professional development provider and educational specialist.


What’s a memory you have from school where learning was fun?
I remember doing some great experiments in my biology class in high school that really made learning fun. I was never a read and answer questions type of learner, especially in science. I needed to do something to understand it. The fruit fly experiment was one I really enjoyed. This was an ongoing project that we worked on in small groups. We were not only experiencing different concepts but were in charge of our own learning and responsible to keep the experiment going over a longer period of time.

What’s your favorite part about STEAM?
I always loved math in school but actually struggled with science. What I love about the STEAM approach is the interdisciplinary connection between subjects that takes away experiencing them in isolation. I remember liking and doing well in my chemistry class because of the connections to math. I found that making cross-curricular connections allowed me to learn better. Now, I see that happening for students all the time. Students really can make stronger connections and better utilize concepts because they are not learning them in isolation.

What was your favorite STEAM subject/lesson to teach and why?
One of my favorite lessons to teach was an interdisciplinary unit that I created using the LEGO® Education WeDo set. In this set, students built a spinning top and programmed the spinner to make it move. I expanded the lesson to not only investigate the engineering of the top but thinking about the science of the motion while also bringing in math and economic topics. This was such a fun unit to teach because students would become really invested in creating the best top, which also meant doing a lot of research, investing and math. In the end, they had something they were proud to market and a real grasp of the information we were learning.