Essential question: What Minecraft game could you create that would help students learn?Unfortunately I could not interview a kid. I am visiting my family for the summer and there are not really any young kids in the family or near where I live. Fortunately I have played minecraft a bit. I have only played the pocket edition, though, and I am still learning a lot about it. I really had a tough time getting into the assignment this week. When I started researching on my own, ideas started going off with what I was finding. There is so much minecraft could be used for that I didn't even think about! The issue is I only have ipads in my class at the moment and a couple of computers. I have focused on learning Minecraft pocket edition because of this. This game is limited in that is does not have quite as many features as the computer version. This is where I have to be careful of the articles I read because some of the assigned reading includes things I could never do with the pocket edition. What is minecraft and how can it be used in education? "The world of Minecraft exists for you to build it and transform it into anything and everything imaginable. It operates on a 20 minute day/night cycle, with 10 minutes of daytime, 1.5 minutes at sunset and sunrise, and 7 minutes of nighttime" ("How To Play Minecraft", n.d.). Because of the freeform nature of minecraft you can create anything you can imagine. I think this is the hard part for educators, is that until you see it used it is hard to imagine what you could use it for. "Learning in Minecraft can be faster than traditional methods of education, as children are often far more motivated, get more practice, and feel that what they are learning is useful" ("Tutorials/Minecraft in education", 2016). If kids like using Minecraft outside of school, just think about how excited they would be to use it in school. Using what kids already love to do can only enhance their learning. McKenzie (2014) gives great suggestions about how he used the pocket edition of Minecraft in his classroom. First he says Minecraft should not be used to do everything because their are so many other digital tools that students should also learn to use. He also says that instead of saying we are "playing" Minecraft you should use other verbs like "using." Lastly he says never use Minecraft as a time filler activity because otherwise it will not be seen as a purposeful activity. McKenzie also shares a couple of posters he has in his room about using Minecraft. I think these would be very helpful in instilling how students should be using Minecraft so they know what is not allowed. A Few Example Projects in Science
Sources
Dikkers, S. (2015). Teachercraft: How Teachers Learn to Use Minecraft in their Classrooms. Retrieved July 9, 2016, from http://press.etc.cmu.edu/files/Teacher-Craft_Dikkers-etal-web.pdf How To Play Minecraft. (n.d.). Retrieved July 9, 2016, from http://www.minecraftopia.com/how_to_play_minecraft Landisman, A. (2013, October 21). Exploring Science with Minecraft. Retrieved July 09, 2016, from http://amylandisman.com/2013/10/exploring-science-with-minecraft/ McKenzie, S. (2014, November 16). How to get Started with Minecraft Pocket Edition in the Classroom. Retrieved July 09, 2016, from http://technorookie.blogspot.com/2014/11/how-to-get-started-with-minecraft.html Tutorials/Minecraft in education. (2016, June 5). Retrieved July 09, 2016, from http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Tutorials/Minecraft_in_education
4 Comments
7/9/2016 10:09:39 am
Looks like Minecraft pocket edition is a valid teaching tool. Great. If you haven't seen a kid play (like my 14 year old), it's pretty humbling. He knows so much about the game, and the resources you can use in the game. I can see how you can get lost in playing. I like your mention of McKenzie stating Minecraft can't do everything because there are other digital tools out there. SO true in my case. I can't think of any valid activities I could use for Algebra, Trig, Pre-calc, Calc, and Statistics. And there definitely are many other digital tools that can get the job done. One in particular(not really a game) is Wolfram Alpha. Why reinvent the wheel with an "old, pixelated game" like Minecraft? :-) And there are plenty of apps and the use of graphing calculators that help in learning advanced math. Thanks for your perspective. It sort of validates my idea that you can't use a single resource for everything!
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Sara Lucas
7/10/2016 12:51:41 pm
I have seen some students play and they know so much more than me. I have only seen them play the pocket edition because almost all of my students have smartphones, but many don't have a computer of their own.
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7/10/2016 06:08:23 pm
Hi Sara! You wrote, “Using what kids already love to do can only enhance their learning.” I totally agree. Using things students are interested in and have schema on helps them buy in to the project and also helps to make students willing to take more risks and show more perseverance with problem solving. When I was reading about the Edu version, I noticed that the teacher has some "control" over what students see and are able to do. This would make it a little more manageable for use in the classroom, especially if you can limit their access to the "outside" world on the web.
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Sarah K
7/10/2016 08:15:41 pm
Sara,
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