They say the only limit is your imagination, and perhaps your inability to find the correct retired Lego piece. But with one teacher’s dedication, even finding the most elusive piece is possible. Meet math teacher Ran Gu, a Lego enthusiast with a hobby of rebuilding and selling used Lego sets.
Gu’s passion for Lego started when he was in middle school, where he found enjoyment in the engineering aspect of building Lego sets. While he took a break from building Lego toward the end of high school and throughout college, Gu recently reignited and transformed his hobby into what he calls “renting sets.”
“The way I like to think of it is I rent sets,” Gu said. “I buy a set that’s used. They’re already built at this point. What I do is I take it apart, and then I wash the pieces, and then I rebuild it. I enjoy that process of restoring the set.”
Gu has also extended his passion for Lego into the classroom, where he has used the bricks as both a teaching tool and even as a method for students to occupy their time after finishing a test early. Through incorporating Lego into his classroom, Gu has been able to achieve a closer connection to his students and aid their learning process, according to Gu’s student and sophomore Giulia Larson.
“I think [Lego has] given him an opportunity to interact with his students,” Larson said. “When we’re done with our tests early, he’ll ask us to break down the Lego. He’s also integrated it into our learning. He’s used Lego as a community building tool in our class, where he’s put groups together and made us ‘solve’ Lego. He gives us the pieces, then he asks us to build it without instructions.”
Although Gu enjoys the rebuilding process, there are often times when there is not enough space to store all of the finished products. To turn this challenge into an opportunity, Gu turned to selling finished Lego sets online after exhausting their enjoyment value.
“When you buy and sell used Lego, the people you interact with are not scalpers,” Gu said. “At that point, you’re interacting with people who genuinely love the hobby. And I’ve met some amazing people selling and buying Lego.”
Through the process of buying, disassembling, rebuilding and selling Lego sets, Gu has been able to connect not only with his students but also with others passionate about Lego. Gu’s hobby has transformed his classroom into a unique experience that has positively impacted the learning environment.
“I think that Mr. Gu seeks to make authentic connections with his learners,” social studies teacher James Ferrel, who has a similar hobby of collecting model trains, said. “He’s really big on making sure that students are engaged and see relevance. And I think that [Lego] could be that tool that he uses to bridge that gap of not just making something fun while learning, but also seeing the complicated world [that mirrors] the intricacy and the design that goes into [Lego].”
