Can any individual buy from Lego Education site?

How does it differ from Lego's normal shop at home site?

It is focussed to educational purposes. Things like FIRST LEGO League etc.

But can anyone buy from this site? Or someone has to be associated with a school?

But can anyone buy from this site? Or someone has to be associated with a school?

It could be different in the UK but I think in the US they direct you to a distributor for your area if you're interested in buying. Many people educate at home so yes, you (as a private individual) can purchase the material to the best of my knowledge. It's not cheap and most (if not all) of the material is cheaper if you just purchase normal Lego. There may be items that are unavailable through normal channels, I'm really not that familiar with it. The bonus of buying it thru Education may be that you get material about how to use it educationally.

There's a lot of info on the Lego Education website and there are also newsletters (read; sales pitches) that they email occasionally (including one for those who educate at home). They have free videos there about how to use some of the material and there is also some actual material that you can download.

Hope that helps, Joe

I used to work as a professor at an engineering school that was also affiliated with a child study/teacher development program and we both maintained a LEGO lab and developed K-12 curricula based around LEGO. For us, LEGO Education site was useful for getting bulk technic parts, "retired" pieces (original (pre-NXT) mindstorms bricks, old style wire connectors, etc.) and parts you just don't find in retail sets (e.g. working solar panels, weighted bricks, etc.) You can occasionally get a good deal on a clearance lot here or there, but as a general source for parts you're usually better off buying a couple creator buckets at TRU than a "classroom" pack because the bricks sold through the Education/Dacta lines are amortizing the cost of developing classroom and teaching guides whether you plan on using them or not.

Years ago, LEGO Dacta was teamed with various US distributors (like Kelvin Educational and Pitsco Education) but for the past decade or so LEGO seems to have been doing a lot more direct marketing (at least the LEGO section in the educational supply catalogs has been getting smaller while the LEGO Education website has been getting bigger. I'm not up on the latest policies with their website (it's been a while) but I've had students that bought things and had them delivered to off campus addresses so I _think_ they'll sell to anybody. If, however, you _ARE_ a teacher and buying for a school, you'll need to have paperwork on file with LEGO Education to exercise any applicable tax exemption.

If you're doing a lot of work in technic stuff or have a strong interest in robotics, it can be a pretty good one-stop-shop for bulking up on parts that are hard to find in quantity from a single vender on Bricklink and rarely sold at all on Pick-A-Brick, but you can almost always find a better price elsewhere if you don't mind the hassle of shopping around.

I bought some parts before. and I know some bought LEGO NXT (Education version) from legoeducation.com.

The different is they are focusing on education (of course). so more of technic and even some non-lego robot pieces/sets.

Also, they are a little expensive normally and I have never seen a freeshipping there.

sometime it could be cheaper though. I ordered some Lego pneumatics tanks parts and some link chains from there, which are cheaper than Bricklink. (not available from LEGO S&H)

The first LEGO Educational sets sold in USA/Canada were introduced about 1963... and cost $100 (or $75 if you were an institution)... and contained over 3,000 parts....

Also in 1976 Samsonite LEGO of Canada introduced an Educational Suitcase Set with 1,440 pieces....

There is an entire LEGO DVD/download chapter devoted to the educational sets.... "Chapter 39 - EDUCATIONAL/INSTITUTIONAL LEGO SETS".

A Samsonite suitcase chock-full of Lego, it's great!

I've used Lego Education before, to buy a pneumatics add-on kit intended for the simple mechanisms kit along with three air tanks. I haven't been able to use it properly though since the hand pump's broken down and the small pumps leak air like crazy.

Yes, you can buy directly from them online - at least in the U.S..

Sometimes they have pretty good sales, offer new (as in 'unused') items that S@H does not, and every so often (like S@H PAB) you can actually find items there for less than what the lowest bricklink prices are - especially if you need bulk. Like you might be able to find a store with 1 of what you need, but if you need 20, then S@H or Education can be better. I don't know about now, but the first time I bought treads (or conveyor belt, or whatever they call it), the Education store was by far the best way to go. That was like 6 years ago, but I still check there every so often.

I am going to place big order from Lego education, any one having offer or promotional deals for that?

Thanks

They used to have some great deals years ago, including rare parts packs and sets you couldn't easily get elsewhere. Today it's not all that different from what you can find on Bricklink or Bricks and Pieces.