Minecraft, for Educational Purposes
Lately there has been a buzz in education about gaming as an aid to learning. While many educators are unsure of applicable roles in curriculum areas, students have definite ideas of how they can use gaming, more specifically Minecraft, to demonstrate their learning. Working in a 1:1 environment has given students opportunities to create remarkable multimedia projects, and being a seasoned 1:1 school, students at BCLUW tailor their learning and projects to fit their areas of interests and passions.
Meet Jarrett – a sophomore at BCLUW. As a freshmen he would amaze me with his stop-animation videos. He has a love of video games, like the normal 15 year old, and a passion to create. I knew Jarrett has used Minecraft in a few of his classes, History and English. Likewise, students at BCLUW have used Minecraft in many other curricular areas.
So what is Minecraft? Simply put, Minecraft is a virtual world where people build, explore, engage in battle. This survivor game is one where players use the environment to sustain life. Although that is the main focus of the game, gamers have been finding several new uses for Minecraft: architecture, computer programming, a hobby, and of course for EDUCATION.
Here is an example of Jarrett’s work. It is a virtual tour of Egypt that he researched, designed, built, and PRESENTED. This project was one he proposed to his history teacher in place of the other assignment.
Jarrett’s ideas for Minecraft Projects:
Science – Virtual demonstration of atom combining
Math – Electric Wiring
English – Virtual demonstration of grammar reviews
History – Reconstructing buildings
Spanish – Language selector in Minecraft to aid in learning
Art- Pixel art
Music – Create your own music, (there are instruments you can use in Minecraft)
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Here are additional examples educators have been sharing with me. Please add your ideas in the comment section or tweet me!
sfarnsworth
Perhaps, just maybe, Minecraft is for Imaginative Education, rather than something to be Integrated into the “is it working yet” ICT agenda. http://www.massivelyminecraft.org – some 500 kids in a learning world where lessons are banned … but of course they are learning, mostly about their own capacity for learning. You might like to go see what they are doing … thanks for adding more Minecraft Edu to the web!
dskmag
August 5, 2012 at 7:56 am