I am really interested in how Minecraft: Education Edition can be purposefully and effectively integrated into educational practices. Several years ago I was able to “scrounge up” enough iPads and laptops to try a single project with my class using it, and it was such a hit in terms of student engagement and display of learning. My school division just switched to Office 365 over the summer, and now we will be able to use this on our Chromebooks.
Because Minecraft is hugely popular across a wide range of ages, it definitely covers the engagement piece of learning. The “power of play” aspect of the education edition is intriguing, really focusing on student problem solving, creating and building, coding, and making connections. There is a vast depository of resources such as tutorials, lessons, and downloadable worlds across the following subjects and topics:
Common Sense Media is a website I have often used to find objective information and reviews for technology and media for children. https://www.commonsense.org/education/game/minecraft-education-edition gives this program a perfect 5/5 rating for learning and another strong community rating. It lists several pros as that it is highly engaging and improved teacher controls, a con is that students may not be used to interacting with the game in a guided fashion and that their last word is that it is “an excellent tool to engage students in learning, collaboration, and critical thinking is now more accessible than ever to teachers.” I’m very much interested in exploring Minecraft: Education Edition with my own class as well as for my first assignment for this course.
I have been wanting to learn more about Minecraft for education purposes. I am usually fairly creative when it comes to thinking of ways to use new tools in the classroom, but for whatever reason, even though I have some personal experience with Minecraft, I just draw a blank when thinking about how to implement it in the classroom! Have you discovered any useful sites or videos that might offer some ideas for how best to use it?
This is a rabbit hole that I haven’t been down yet with minecraft, but need to one of these days, as I love seeing how excited and driven it makes some kids (my nephew included) at creating and exploring.
I was super worried about doing this project while I was planning it. I, myself, had never played Minecraft before so I had no idea how to teach them. I only had the “big picture” learning I wanted to see at the end. I communicated this with the students and told them they would need to figure it out themselves and rely on each other for help if they got stuck. It was truly amazing; not only did they cover and illustrate the curriculum content, but they also inadvertently worked on a lot of soft skills such as perseverance, problem-solving, and communication. I can’t wait to try it again!
You are hitting on a piece of magic making in education and learning here, Kendall, that happens when you have an educator that is brave enough to give the kids the ownership over their learning and a project, rather than try to control it. Good for you. It is far too few that have the bravery to do that, and usually creates the most memorable and richest learning experience for the kids.
I agree that the use of games such as Minecraft can support learning and decision-making without children realizing what they are learning while playing.
I know! My students really had no idea the depth of their understanding until they were finished the project and presented it in their portfolio videos. They just thought they were playing games and being creative. That’s the beauty of this program!