A new line of educational sets – LEGO® Education Science – has entered the global market. Its main goal is straightforward: to support STEM learning through screen-free activities, which clearly sets the Science series apart from the dominant LEGO Learning System tools (namely SPIKE Prime and SPIKE Essential).
Although LEGO Science is not designed to teach programming, the models built by students do include working electronic components. You can bring them to life using pre-programmed motion sequences, activated with special connect cards.
Science sits somewhere between classic LEGO robotics and screen-free science kits. Children build powered mechanisms that can move, but they don’t actually program them – and that lack of control comes with some serious limitations.
LEGO Education Science is a convenient “plug-and-teach” solution for science and early primary education: ready-made, 45-minute lessons without screens and without coding. You get repeatable, out-of-the-box experiments and teacher materials, but at the cost of construction freedom and engineering skill development. The set makes it easy to run a mini-experiment in 45 minutes, but it deliberately limits construction flexibility and, according to the manufacturer, is not intended for programming – even though a programming app for the set does exist.
If your priority is quick, ready-to-use STEM and biology lessons, you’ll probably like Science. If you want to foster engineering creativity and work with code, you’ll feel more at home with SPIKE.
- For whom: early primary / science / physics teachers, schools without IT facilities, younger classes, quick cover lessons.
- What it offers: ready-made lesson plans, screen-free demonstrations, consistent lesson flow, easy start.
- Trade-offs: no programming by default, limited model creativity, work in groups of four.
- Alternatives: SPIKE (also for simple offline demos), optionally BricQ Motion for mechanics / projects.
- Conclusion: convenience and readiness > flexibility and engineering development.
Where do these conclusions come from? Is it worth buying LEGO Science? Will this set be the best fit for you?
Read the full review or click on the section that interests you most.
What’s in the box¶
Box¶
The new Science boxes are noticeably weaker than the sturdy containers from the LEGO Learning System line. They’re made of cheaper plastic that is more flexible and prone to cracking. On the plus side, the boxes are smaller, which saves precious space in school cabinets and storage rooms.
There’s no built-in sorting tray system to organize the elements. Instead, you get four compartments, one with a removable wall, so you can only adjust two compartments yourself. This gives you a bit of freedom to adapt the inside of the box to your needs, but not much.
Core sets and Classroom Bundle packs¶
The Science line consists of three construction sets designed for different age groups. Each set is designed for a group of four children and contains three printed building booklets in the box.
Science Kit K-2 (45620)
- for children aged 5–7
- 277 building elements
- 1 electronic element: dual motor
- USB-C charging cable
- 329.95 USD
Science Kit 3-5 (45621)
- for children aged 8–10
- 336 building elements
- 2 electronic elements: dual motor and wireless controller
- USB-C charging cable
- 2 connect cards
- 399.95 USD
Science Kit 6-8 (45622)
- for children aged 11–14
- 424 building elements
- 4 electronic elements: single motor, dual motor, color sensor and wireless controller
- USB-C charging cable
- 3 connect cards
- 499.95 USD
Science sets can be purchased individually or in Classroom Bundle packs of 6 sets. Buying a bundle is only slightly cheaper, but you do get a few extras: multi-chargers (from 1 to 3 units), a spare parts pack, and 8 additional connect cards in the 3–5 and 6–8 Classroom Bundles.
LEGO also guarantees access to an extensive Teacher Portal with teaching materials for educators, compatible with all three sets in the Science series. Read more about teaching materials below.
Building bricks¶
The sets use a cheerful but muted color palette, with turquoise, brown and bright coral bricks dominating. This specific palette was chosen to visually distinguish the Science line from other LEGO Education sets.
The bricks themselves are quite bold, while the printed materials use more subdued colors. They fit the current desaturation trend, which emerged as a response to the overstimulation experienced by both children and adults. It’s doubtful the bricks will have a calming effect, but this aesthetic certainly appeals to adults – the ones making purchasing decisions.
In the box, you’ll find significantly more System bricks (studs) than Technic elements (pins). System bricks are more user-friendly for younger students, but less useful for building moving mechanisms.
This shift towards System bricks is a complete reversal of the trend we saw in previous LEGO Education launches, which seemed to move further toward Technic elements (this is particularly visible when we look at the electronics of WeDo 2.0 and SPIKE Essential).
Several elements stand out. There are large baseplates in various sizes, with rounded corners and a reduced number of studs. Another interesting addition is the rubber plates with plastic studs, which let you build stable bases with very good grip on the surface. A pleasant surprise in the K-2 set is the return of a stud-ended string, known from the now almost prehistoric LEGO Education WeDo 1.0 set.
There are very few purely mechanical elements in the sets: wheels, gears, or gear racks. In practice, this decision clearly makes it harder (and sometimes impossible) to present and explain mechanical topics that go beyond the absolute basics. This has a direct impact on the ways the set can be used.
Construction possibilities are limited, which directly translates into the simplicity of the models. You can see this in the Bird Nest – four RoboCamp robots built on the same principle, using different sets: WeDo 1.0, WeDo 2.0, SPIKE Essential and Science.
A quick look is enough to see how the choice of elements affects the final model.
Electronic elements¶
The most important novelty in the set is an entirely new electronics system. We get new motors, sensors and control elements, as well as a new wireless communication system.
The idea is clear: the electronics are meant to be used offline, without screens. Elements are activated using connect cards that trigger pre-programmed programs with specific commands. Inevitably, this approach strongly limits the hardware capabilities of the set’s electronics.
However, the electronic components in the Science sets can be programmed via the Coding Canvas app, which lets you create programs with code blocks similar to Word Blocks. The electronics connect wirelessly via Bluetooth. No wires on the electronics and the possibility of offline work open up interesting new opportunities for LEGO builders and hobbyists – even though the Science line wasn’t really designed with them in mind.
The potential of the new electronics is not used at all in the lessons created by the manufacturer. By default, Science bricks are intended for screen-free work, not for teaching programming. According to LEGO, this functionality is just a bonus for those who are interested.
From the perspective of the sets, the amount of electronics in the box increases gradually. Sets designed for older students contain more electronics than those for younger children.
Can I conduct lessons for all age groups using just the set for the oldest group?
No. To prevent this, LEGO made sure that the building elements in each set are different. All sets have a similar pool of basic parts, but each set includes several unique elements needed for specific lessons in the Teacher Portal.
All new LEGO Science electronic elements have a USB-C port for charging built-in lithium-ion batteries and a single illuminated button. Each element can work offline and connect to others using Bluetooth Low Energy 4.2.
Let’s take a closer look.
Single motor 45650
A small wireless, precise motor with a built-in absolute encoder. It allows precise control of rotation speed and setting the head position with an accuracy of 1 degree.
- Included in the Science 6-8 set.
Dual motor 45651
A large motor with two rotating heads and a built-in motion sensor. Each head has a built-in absolute encoder that allows precise control of rotation speed and head position.
- Included in the Science K-2, 3-5 and 6-8 sets.
Controller 45652
A precise controller with two levers that can be tilted by ±90 degrees, with resolution of 0.25 degrees. Full charging time is about 45 minutes.
- Can directly control Science motors.
- Included in the Science 3-5 and 6-8 sets.
Color sensor 45653
A simplified sensor that detects 6 colors. Its detection range is 4–16 mm. In offline mode it detects 6 colors corresponding to the colors of selected bricks in the LEGO Science sets.
- Included in the Science 6-8 set.
Connect cards (45657)¶
Connect cards are a new way of controlling the electronics. Up to now, all LEGO Education robotics sets used a hub – the heart of the robot responsible for power, connection to the controlling device and communication with the remaining electronic components through cables plugged into the hub’s ports.
Cards let us get rid of those annoying cables. They enable wireless communication between elements and, more precisely, they start them in offline mode while selecting one of the factory-programmed programs stored in each element’s memory.
In practice, connect cards work a bit like a magic wand. You switch on the selected electronic components with the button, then touch them with a chosen card to start the program. After the card is applied, the element’s LED lights up in the color of that connect card, signalling that a connection has been established and the program is ready to run. It may sound complicated, but in reality it’s very simple and works reliably.
The different card colors only serve to group the electronic elements. A sensor and a motor touched with a card in the same color will cooperate with each other and ignore electronics started with a card in a different color. Cards act as an electronic tag of a working group.
At the time of writing this review, LEGO has not published any details about what technology the connect cards use. Most likely it’s NFC or a related short-range communication technology, used in contactless payments or hotel room locks. In this system, the cards act as passive transponders that don’t require power and, once energized by an active initiating device (in this case, the electronic element the card is touching), exchange a small amount of data over short distances.
Multi-charger (45623)¶
The lack of a hub in the robotics set has its advantages, the biggest being the absence of cables in the robot model. Unfortunately, it also has drawbacks.
Apart from having to set up communication between all the electronic components each time, you need to supply power to every electronic part separately. Consider this example: you’re working with a 24-student class using 6 LEGO Education Science 6-8 sets. After every lesson you have to charge as many as 24 electronic components! There may be fewer cables in the models themselves, but you end up with a small tangle of charging cables instead.
Fortunately, LEGO noticed this problem and released a multi-charger with 8 USB-C plugs, which lets you charge 8 elements in under an hour. It’s a good idea to buy a sufficient number of multi-chargers, or get Science sets as part of a Bundle, where chargers are included.
Working with the set and teaching materials¶
Product idea and producer's promises¶
According to LEGO®, Science sets are meant to serve as teaching aids for hands-on experiments in science and math-related subjects. By physically working with models, students should engage more and gain a deeper understanding of the topics discussed. The producer also promises “aha moments” in the classroom – spontaneous flashes of understanding in our students, in the spirit of Archimedes.
Using bricks to run simple experiments is meant to be faster, simpler and more interesting for students than working with cardboard, rubber bands, popsicle sticks or other everyday materials.
Whether these promises will come true in your school or not will ultimately depend on your students’ preferences and your working conditions as a teacher.
The producer also emphasizes that the sets are designed for repeated use. They supposedly do not require replenishment and are always ready to go. However, anyone who has worked with educational bricks knows that elements get lost and mixed between sets – no brick set is free from this problem. On top of that, the electronics must be charged regularly and in the case of LEGO Science this is quite a nuisance.
Another important factor in the design of the set was lesson length. Building, running and experimenting are all supposed to fit into a maximum of 45 minutes each time, which is genuinely valuable in a school context. With the existing LEGO Education sets it used to be quite difficult (though not impossible – see RoboCamp 45-minute lessons).
Unfortunately, this claim turns out not to be entirely true. In its own report on implementing LEGO Education Science in US schools with 9 teachers, the producer writes:
[...] The few challenges teachers reported related to implementation were primarily pedagogical: managing time, addressing knowledge gaps, and supporting concept transfer. [...] while two-thirds of teachers were able to complete the lessons in the 45–60- minute blocks, some teachers chose to extend the lessons
– LEGO® Education Science Case Study: Enhancing Engagement in Science among Diverse Learners
It turns out that, according to the manufacturer, a lesson hour is closer to 60 minutes than 45, and that in real classroom conditions teachers often extended their lessons even more.
We don’t know exactly which lessons the report refers to, nor the conditions in which they were delivered. But 15 minutes make a real difference in a single lesson hour – you should definitely keep this in mind if you plan to use the official lesson plans.
Working with the set in classroom¶
Each set in the Science line is designed for a group of 4 students, each with their “own” LEGO minifigure in a color that matches their slot in the printed building instructions. This working system assumes there is no programming involved.
The advantage is that you need fewer sets in the classroom than when working in pairs.
Unfortunately, the drawbacks outweigh this benefit. Four students in a group can be a bit crowded, and not every class splits neatly into groups of four. The working system essentially requires rearranging the entire classroom – tables need to be large and accessible from all sides, so that every student has easy access to both the box of bricks and the shared model under construction. You might see this layout in robotics clubs or in maker spaces – not always in public school classrooms.
The division of work between four people is also incomplete, which may cause problems. The left side of a building instruction page has four slots – one for each student, marked with a different minifigure. The right side shows how to combine the work of all four into one element. But who is responsible for putting everything together? A similar issue appears in the Elaborate stage of each lesson. It’s worth considering whether your students should allocate these tasks on their own and telling them in advance to avoid confusion.
The new work system is meant to speed up building and put more emphasis on collaboration and communication, but it can also spark tensions within the group and cause chaos in the classroom. Working in pairs is simpler to organize and manage, and it gives more equal access to the equipment.
Teaching materials and Teacher Portal¶
Apart from the new wireless electronics, the teaching materials are advertised as the strongest point of the Science series. For each set, LEGO Education has prepared 40 lessons aligned with the NGSS standards (Next Generation Science Standards) focused on Life Science, Physical Science, Engineering Design, Earth and Space Science.
The lessons are mapped to NGSS and other standards for different US states. However, if you want your lessons to cover absolutely all of these standards, you’ll need to scrutinize the LEGO program – the Teacher Portal lessons don’t cover every topic. There are especially noticeable gaps in Earth & Space Science. Other missing topics include e.g. physics concepts related to waves and sound. Engineering, meanwhile, is covered very thoroughly.
Were new sets necessary to map lessons to standards? No. Let’s say it plainly: LEGO could have created ready-made full-year lesson plans for its existing sets and mapped them to the standards, but instead it released a completely new and expensive series. The lesson portal is undeniably useful for teachers, but it should have been created earlier and should also include SPIKE sets.
Since the RoboCamp team has prepared multi-year SPIKE curricula with programming and scenarios aligned with teaching standards, LEGO Education also could have done it. If you’re looking for lesson plans for SPIKE, see:
Lesson materials from LEGO are available on a dedicated teaching platform – Teacher Portal. They include short presentations that guide students through the exercise, facilitation notes and tips for the teacher.
Besides the online platform, you also get printed building instructions included with the set. Many users will appreciate this “retro” solution, which works fully offline and without any internet access. It’s supposed to work hand in hand with online materials, but finding the portal lesson that corresponds to a model from the printed instructions is surprisingly difficult. The portal has no search bar, the lesson tiles don’t show the model built in class, and the instructions include only a code instead of the lesson name. For now, you simply have to browse through all the lessons one by one.
Note! The title graphics on the portal lessons do not depict the model you build in that lesson in any way. They are just a creative interpretation of the lesson topic. To see the model, you need to open the building instructions.
Each lesson follows the 5E format (surprisingly similar to RoboCamp’s 5C lesson scenarios: Consider, Create, Check, Code, Celebrate). There's an introduction (Engage), e.g. a short video; the building and observation phase (Explore); recording observations and drawing conclusions (Explain); further experiments (Elaborate) and a quiz at the end (Evaluate). The entire lesson is intended to fit into forty-five minutes.
The quality of individual lessons varies a lot. You’ll find both engaging, well-designed activities and rather dull models that will be hard to use to spark students’ interest. Some constructions are highly symbolic and require support from the presentation to understand what the model is supposed to represent.
Many lessons don’t make use of electronic elements at all. Is this intentional? The Science solution is praised for its screen-free approach, but nearly always in the context of engaging electronics. It’s also possible that coming up with a large number of interesting activities based on the same pool of pre-programmed movements simply proved too difficult.
Coding Canvas app¶
Coding Canvas is the app for programming LEGO Science electronics using code blocks. It runs in a browser and works very similarly to Word Blocks in the SPIKE app.
Key information about Coding Canvas:
- Available online for free
- Science electronic elements connect via Bluetooth, each individually. You can connect up to 10 elements at once.
- Grouping elements with connect cards is not recognized when programming from the app.
- Science electronics are not compatible with SPIKE electronics.
- Programs are created with block-based code similar to Word Blocks. An equivalent of Icon Blocks mode also exists, but at this point it is so limited that it’s practically unusable.
- The app is currently available only in English.
You might think – wait, wasn’t LEGO Science supposed to be for screen-free learning? So why this app? A fair question.
LEGO Education Science is marketed as a “completely screen-free” solution, but you only unlock the full potential of its electronics after connecting to the LEGO Coding Canvas app. In this environment you can adjust motor power and speed and create your own motion sequences – features that are entirely unavailable when using only connect cards. LEGO does not mention this at all in its marketing materials, consistently presenting the Science kits as an offline solution.
This is a clear contradiction: the product is more expensive because it includes new electronics with potentially greater capabilities, but those capabilities are not advertised at purchase and are barely supported technically.
What’s more, LEGO has not provided any support for teachers in using the Coding Canvas app, so they’re completely on their own with this tool. The Help section in the app, which briefly describes what each block does, offers minimal assistance. The RoboCamp team is currently working on teaching materials and programming lessons for LEGO Education Science. We plan to release new coding lessons for Science in the near future.
It’s also worth noting that once you add programming, the four-student group structure – so strongly promoted by LEGO – completely stops making sense. Realistically, the set can be effectively used by at most two students at a time.
The Coding Canvas app and the practical consequences of using it with Science sets strongly reinforce the impression that this product line is heading in a somewhat chaotic direction.
Capabilities of the set¶
The capabilities of Science sets need to be assessed in two ways: as a ready-made, closed product released by LEGO Education, and as an open set – that is, what room there is to go beyond the framework imposed by the manufacturer, whether it can be combined with other solutions and adapted to your own lesson plans.
LEGO Science as a closed product¶
The main value of LEGO Education Science as an “out-of-the-box” classroom tool lies in the ready-made lessons designed specifically for these sets. They’re structured to cover as many NGSS standards as possible, which makes the series a very convenient and predictable solution for teachers.
Science teachers can use the set to guide students at all educational stages through a wide range of curriculum-required science and STEM topics. There’s no need to dive into complex issues related to coding or robotics. Models are started almost like with a magic wand – a quick tap with a card and the robot runs its sequence, neatly demonstrating the results of the experiment or simulation planned for the lesson.
Note! The ready-made lessons cover most topics required by NGSS, but not all of them.
As a teaching aid for demonstrating specific curriculum concepts, the LEGO Science series offers a kind of “middle ground” among LEGO Education sets. Without any programming, Science requires less time, less IT infrastructure and less tech knowledge than SPIKE, which makes it easier to adopt in a regular classroom. At the same time, thanks to a few electronic components, it’s clearly more engaging than purely mechanical BricQ Motion.
There’s no denying that LEGO Science is very convenient for teachers who prefer screen-free science lessons, as well as for school decision-makers. It’s ready to use straight out of the box, comes with NGSS-aligned lesson plans, and doesn’t require turning on a computer or tablet. The working method is friendly even for educators who are wary of new technologies or classroom devices.
The product delivers on promises that really matter in school:
- the set contains everything students need during class,
- it offers a base of lessons mapped to official standards,
- it’s easy to operate,
- it works without screens or computers,
- and it allows you to run a complete lesson in about 45 minutes.
It also works well for cover lessons and timetable “gaps”, when you need to run an engaging activity in a single period with minimal preparation. For schools without a computer lab, LEGO Science is a reasonable option: with very little infrastructure, you can roll out consistent, repeatable science and physics lessons across different classes.
All this means that the Science series may appeal especially to teachers who, for various reasons, have not yet used LEGO Education sets in their lessons and are looking for a safe, structured starting point.
However, you should also be aware of the downsides.
The elements in the box are selected strictly with specific lessons in mind; their goal is not to support students’ creative engineering. Mechanisms are simplified and often less interesting than models built from sets richer in construction pieces. The narrow framework of the series also affects lesson quality – restricted possibilities in terms of construction, electronics and programming mean that models are quite symbolic. After a few lessons, you may find that holding students’ attention still depends mostly on the teacher’s creativity and teaching style.
Robotics clubs and project teams will feel the lack of programming and limited freedom in building. For this type of work – long-term projects, competitions, advanced robotics – SPIKE will be a much better fit (even if you sometimes use it in simple offline demonstration mode). The constraints of LEGO Science also make it a poor choice for multi-lesson projects where students should iterate and develop their own designs.
In short: LEGO Science is an interesting proposal for teaching, but it is not a universal tool. It shines as a structured, screen-free demonstration kit, not as a platform for open-ended robotics and engineering.
LEGO Science as an open product¶
If you want to use LEGO Science differently than strictly as prescribed by the producer – for example, as an open-ended STEM or robotics kit – the sets start to look like rather difficult partners.
On the construction side, you are strongly limited by the very small number of Technic elements. This makes it harder not only to build complex mechanisms, but even solid, stable versions of simple ones (for example, the lack of black friction pins means that models tend to have noticeable play). There’s very little room for students’ engineering creativity. They can only use their imagination when decorating – which is supported by smooth tiles, ornamental elements and minifigures – so even simple models can look attractive, but mechanically they remain basic.
The huge plus, of course, is the lack of cables. This lets you focus on the model’s functionality instead of how to route wires, and it also improves the look of the finished builds. However, you need to remember that the nature of this electronics requires that all elements have easy access to the power button and room for the card to be placed against them. This practical detail can limit where and how you integrate motors or sensors into your models.
Another major limitation to the set’s potential comes from the preprogrammed movements of Science electronics. Take the motors as an example. By default, the factory program controlling the motor lets the head move over a full 360-degree range. which makes it impossible, for example, to build robots with motion limiters. That makes it impossible to build robots with motion limiters, which are useful in launchers, grippers or barrier mechanisms – such constructions would simply pull themselves apart when turned on. Also, you can’t build many interactive models, because specific readings from the color sensor always trigger the same reactions in the motors.
Fortunately, these problems can be worked around by programming directly in the Coding Canvas app. This online tool allows fairly precise control over the electronics and lets you connect many electronic components at once. However, we’re holding off on a final verdict on this app – first, the RoboCamp team will design several new robots to test its capabilities in real classroom and club conditions.
Of course, we should also underline that opening LEGO Science up to programming from the app completely undermines the intended working model – screen-free, offline science lessons that don’t require devices.
So is it worth buying this set at all?
Conclusions: Is LEGO Science for you¶
TOP 3 PROS
- 40 ready-made 45–60 minute lessons from LEGO Education
- alignment with NGSS standards
- screen-free, offline learning
TOP 3 CONS
- rigid set, limited capabilities
- high price
- suboptimal group work model
The greatest advantages of the LEGO® Education Science line are its ready-made, NGSS-aligned lesson plans and the ability to run completely screen-free, offline science lessons. It’s a solid choice for teachers who want to easily enrich their science curriculum with group work and hands-on experiments that help students grasp specific, clearly defined topics from the US standards – without spending hours on preparation.
This tool may appeal especially to early primary school math and science teachers who would like to add a few more engaging, brick-based lessons during the school year, but feel unsure about coding or managing tablets and laptops in the classroom. The manufacturer’s lessons are designed to fit into a 45-minute period, and some of them can be adapted to school standards other than NGSS.
LEGO Science is also well thought out from the perspective of school budget decision-makers. One product contains everything a teacher and student need: bricks, electronics, and teaching materials. There’s nothing else you have to buy – no extra tablets, laptops, or additional resources to get started with screen-free STEM lessons.
However, Science is a very rigid system. The choice of elements and the default exclusion of programming mean that working freely beyond the ready-made lesson framework is difficult, which significantly limits its broader application in school and cools students’ creative ambitions.
The Science kits will work in your school if you plan to use the sets primarily in the role defined by the manufacturer. In that case, they bring real value and can be a sensible choice. But it’s important to remember that this is not an all-purpose robotics set – it is not designed for teaching programming or developing deep student independence and creativity in engineering. In practice, LEGO Science is very good at one specific thing: repeatable, screen-free lessons based on ready-made scenarios. For projects, coding and competitions, SPIKE is the better choice.
If you’ve already worked with SPIKE before and expect LEGO Education Science to “work similarly”, you may be disappointed: Science doesn’t offer programming or comparable engineering freedom.
Science vs other LEGO Education sets¶
In terms of construction possibilities, Science sets don’t hold a candle to the decent (though mechanically modest) SPIKE Essential or the fantastic SPIKE Prime. BricQ Motion is also richer in construction elements – there you have sails, weights, fan blades, many types of gears and beams, pins and all sorts of connectors. Science includes fewer construction bricks, and they are less universal.
Science electronics are modest and less useful didactically compared to SPIKE Prime and SPIKE Essential – although this matters less if you’re not interested in teaching programming at all.
Science’s main advantage seems to be the ability to work offline without a screen. But note – this is also possible with SPIKE Prime! Each Prime hub comes with factory-loaded demo programs that, with the addition of teaching materials and printed building instructions, could easily become a tool for screen-free work. It’s a pity LEGO did not think of selling such an add-on separately for the sets that already exist.
A real advantage of Science electronics is the lack of cables connecting the components in a model – and yes, it does look nicer. It potentially removes some construction constraints for builders, but they are not the main target group. The need to charge all these elements, however, can quickly become tiresome.
Because of the intrinsic limitations of the line, students have fewer opportunities to learn through play during lessons. Science does not allow them to run their own tests and experiments – there’s neither enough bricks nor time. The lessons don’t really include room for creativity beyond adding a few decorations.
Compared to the capabilities of other LEGO Education products, it is hard to shake the impression that the Science line focuses more on teacher expectations than on student potential.
Price and value of LEGO Science¶
The price of a Science set ranges from 329.95 USD to 499.95 USD. To cover the full student journey (ages 5–14), you need to buy all 3 sets, which comes to 1,229.85 USD.
SPIKE Essential costs 329.95 USD. SPIKE Prime is 399.95 USD. Together they cover a similar, longer age range (6 to 16+) and cost 729.90 USD in total.
BricQ Motion sets are the cheapest – both BricQ Motion Prime and Essential cost only 159.95 USD, but they don’t include any electronics.
The overall value of LEGO Science is debatable. The contents of the box don’t really justify such a high price, especially when you consider that the lesson plans and teaching outlines are freely available to everyone on LEGO’s online platform. It’s possible that part of the cost of developing the lessons and the Teacher Portal has simply been built into the set price. Or perhaps this product is intentionally designed to be high-convenience rather than low-cost.
Science “pays off” when your top priorities are: truly screen-free work, easy teacher onboarding and ready-made lessons aligned with NGSS. It makes less financial sense when your main focus is the development of engineering skills, mechanics or coding – in that case, the price-to-capability ratio is clearly better in the SPIKE line.
Since the series has only just entered the market, we don’t yet know whether it will turn out to be a long-term investment. We can only hope that, like other LEGO Education sets, these kits will prove durable – some WeDo 1.0 robotics sets from 2009 are still being used in schools today.
LEGO Science is an interesting product that brings several noteworthy innovations. Its real strength lies in how easy it is to implement in school and how tightly it integrates with the American NGSS science curriculum, which is not necessarily an ideal match for all educational systems around the world. In terms of capabilities, educational value and price-to-content ratio, the Science series loses to LEGO Education sets that are already on the market.
It’s also striking that LEGO Education Science often seems to contradict itself. The set is meant to be used primarily by children, yet the marketing and design decisions appear to focus more on adult expectations. It promotes screen-free lessons, while quietly releasing a programming app in the background. It claims to foster student creativity, while clearly limiting their options for building and coding. It looks visually modest, yet is currently the most expensive LEGO Education set.
Even so, the Science line will certainly find its fans. The ability to skip programming, avoid managing tablets and roll out ready-made, screen-free lessons quickly can convince a completely new group of teachers to try LEGO bricks in the classroom for the first time.
For schools that want to introduce LEGO Education gradually, Science can be a low-risk first step: start with structured, offline science lessons and only later move on to SPIKE when staff and students are ready for coding and more open-ended engineering. In this role, LEGO Science becomes less a competitor to SPIKE and more a gateway to richer STEM and robotics tools, especially in schools where technology access, teacher confidence or preparation time are still limited.
In other contexts, LEGO Science will simply be the “good enough” answer – a way to tick the boxes of hands-on STEM, NGSS alignment and screen-free activities without reshaping the timetable or investing in new infrastructure. For schools that already use SPIKE or BricQ Motion, it will more likely remain a niche add-on than a central tool.
The key is to see Science for what it really is: not a universal solution for robotics and programming, but a specialized kit for fast, ready-made science lessons with LEGO bricks.