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In recent years, the stress of multiple deployments takes a toll on Soldiers’ relationships, mental and spiritual well-being and the Chaplain Corps. is there to support their mental and spiritual health. There is a belief that relationships will strengthen the whole Soldier, but the Chaplain-to-Soldier ratio is high. According to AR 600-100, U.S. Army Profession and Leadership Policy, investing in developing Mentors would enable Chaplains to identify issues early. Mentors would be trained to assist Soldiers as a liaison between the Chaplain and the Soldier at the unit level.
The U.S. Army contracted a counselor and consultant to design and deliver A 4-day workshop for the Chaplain Corps. Strong Bonds program backed by research for Chaplains and Religious Affairs Specialists. To emphasize the importance of mental and spiritual health in a relationship, LEGO Serious Play (LSP) methodologies were implemented as activities to communicate and discuss complex topics. LSP is an emerging communication, thinking, and problem-solving set of techniques based on the theory of constructivism (Piaget and Inhelder, 1958), constructionism (Papert and Harel, 1991), and play (Roos and Victor, 2004) where subjective views matter, and metaphors and storytelling are powerful sense-making tools.
This methodology was delivered at U.S. Army installations with high interest. Chaplain feedback of how tools and resources are being used suggests that implementing LSP in this context provides a low-cost, high impact means of instruction. LEGO Serious Play demonstrated reinforcement of concepts by building metaphorical models to discuss difficult topics such as trust, forgiveness, service, sacrifice, and more.
This paper describes the instructional design process behind implementing LSP into a military training context, its challenges, and opportunities for improvement. In particular, we will describe how the underlying principles behind LSP can inform best practices in instructional design for soft skills in military contexts.