Abstract:

Data visualization is frequently taught as a technical skill focused on chart creation and software tools. However, effective visualization requires much more than producing graphs; it involves structuring information, communicating insights, and designing a visual narrative adapted to a specific audience. This paper presents a learning activity based on the LEGO® Serious Play (LSP) methodology designed to help students understand the conceptual foundations of effective data visualization.

The workshop was implemented as a two-hour session with 12 international master’s students within a course on data exploration and visualization. The activity was designed to promote creativity and collaborative thinking while encouraging students to conceptualize visualization as a communication process rather than a purely technical task.

Students first participated in short warm-up exercises where they constructed physical metaphors representing abstract concepts such as clarity and confusion. These activities introduced the principles of building, storytelling, and reflection that characterize the LSP methodology. The main challenge required each student to build a LEGO model representing the key elements of an effective data visualization, including audience, focus, noise, context, and the relationship between raw data and insight.

In a subsequent collaborative phase, students combined their individual models into a shared representation of the visualization process, including stages such as data collection, cleaning, selection, design, narrative framing, and audience interpretation. Through discussion and explanation of their models, students reflected on how visualization choices influence meaning and interpretation.

The experience suggests that physical modeling and metaphor-based reasoning can help students better understand the conceptual and communicative dimensions of data visualization. The results indicate that LEGO® Serious Play can be an effective pedagogical approach for teaching complex concepts related to information design, storytelling with data, and visual communication.

Keywords:

LEGO Serious Play, Data Visualization, Data Storytelling, Experiential Learning.