"The Ultimate Educational Tool"
When we think of video games in the classroom, our first thoughts may be about distraction, lack of focus, addiction, off-task behaviour... but what about engagement, concentration, collaboration, critical thinking and teamwork? A recent article – Mind Games by Alan Gershenfeld – in Scientific American states that, "Video games could transform education. But first, game designers, teachers and parents have to move beyond both hype and fear." To access the entire article, click here.
Minecraft is an unstructured video game that first appeared in 2009. It is considered a "sandbox" game which is open-ended and allows players to build with virtual blocks. There is no fixed storyline and there are no specific rules to follow. It is entirely open-ended and there is no winner – the purpose is to simply create. Although it is classified as a video game, many teachers feel it is the ultimate educational tool.
This Edutopia video outlines some of the strong motivation behind using Minecraft in an educational setting. The teaching of digital citizenship (et: internet ethics, online safety, privacy, appropriate social interactions) is mentioned in the video, but Minecraft also allows students to build skills in planning, logic, spatial reasoning, math skills (yes - there are math blocks!) and encourages effective cooperation and collaboration.
I have been investigating the effective use of games and Minecraft in particular for our classrooms at the Prep. I started playing Minecraft in January, trying to understand the appeal and draw of the game. I have personally "lost" several evenings already to building my shelters and learning to light them well enough to not be attacked by zombies. I have entered into a creative world and built with no restrictions on my tools or materials. I have learned how to join multi-player games and have had other teachers (from GamingEdus) walk me through their worlds, teaching me how to play. My students SWAT team (Students Working to Advance Technology) has been extremely helpful teaching me as well.
One thing that I knew was necessary if we were to bring Minecraft to the Prep was a teacher oversight system. This solution is in MinecraftEdu. MinecraftEdu builds on the traditional Minecraft software, but provides control to the teacher and allows them to oversee what all the students are doing and to even control student actions (limiting movement, chatting, disabling monsters, special educational blocks etc.) MinecraftEdu allows play in both creative and survival modes as well as an Edu mode where the teacher selects a combination of both types of worlds that best suits their student. I have established a basic MinecraftEdu server within the UCC network that will allow students to join and build within a mutli-player setting while logged in at school.
There are excellent opportunities to bring this engaging and open-ended tool into yoru classroom. Several teachers have posted examples of worlds and tasks that address specific curricular items:
- World of Humanities
- Exploration of the Animal Cell
- Shane Asselstine explaining his MinecraftEdu world for Math and Science
- Probability and Gravity
In Our Classrooms
The Form 6/7 SWAT team is now working on developing a PD afternoon for teachers to demonstrate to you the value of this tool. They are building worlds with specific curricular objectives in mind and hope to demonstrate these to you sometime after March break.
Gamification is a big buzzword in education right now... but I really do think this is a valuable tool worth investigating in classroom settings. If you are interested in considering this for your classroom, please let me know.
Gamification is a big buzzword in education right now... but I really do think this is a valuable tool worth investigating in classroom settings. If you are interested in considering this for your classroom, please let me know.
