It has taken us a while to get MinecraftEDU installed on all of the lab computers, but now it is ready to go. For our first couple of classes, this group of 7th and 8th graders explored the question: What can you learn from Minecraft?
We asked the question and then read a couple of articles.
Article 1: Hey, Parents. What Minecraft is Doing to your Kids is Kind of Surprising.
Article 2: Five Things Minecraft Teaches Kids
After reading one of the articles, everyone answered the questions on Google Classroom: What can you learn from Minecraft? Should Minecraft be used in school?
The responses fell into these different categories.
Some students think Minecraft teaches creativity, resourcefulness, and teamwork. These are certainly valuable skills. They aren't normally taught or graded in school. As a teacher, I wondered how you would know if you were doing a good job at these. Could I tell if a student was more creative or more resourceful after playing Minecraft for a while? Would I be able to judge if the students were working better as a team? Are these useful skills for schools to teach or should they be learned outside of the classroom?
Other students said that Minecraft teaches knowledge about certain topics, like architecture, farming, minerals, and civil engineering. These are not usually taught in school. What should middle schoolers know about these topics? If you learn how to create a subway system or grow wheat or smelt gold ore, is that a valuable life skill?
Students said Minecraft can be used to make models from history, geography, and the fine arts. You could create a village or design a backdrop for a play. Maybe Minecraft can replace the cardboard diorama!
And finally, we had some students who are skeptics of Minecraft in the classroom. These students felt Minecraft is a video game, and while it's fun to play and is creative, it isn't meant to teach anything academic and it would be pretty tough to make it academic. This is definitely what we hope to find out this quarter - we think Minecraft can be used to explore things like geometry, but is it useful for middle school math topics like algebra? Can you use it to learn about science or history, or is this mostly just a fun video game?
Today, we will use the tutorial world and ask the question: What rules and norms do you need to have in place when there are 30 people interacting together on a server?
We asked the question and then read a couple of articles.
Article 1: Hey, Parents. What Minecraft is Doing to your Kids is Kind of Surprising.
Article 2: Five Things Minecraft Teaches Kids
After reading one of the articles, everyone answered the questions on Google Classroom: What can you learn from Minecraft? Should Minecraft be used in school?
The responses fell into these different categories.
Some students think Minecraft teaches creativity, resourcefulness, and teamwork. These are certainly valuable skills. They aren't normally taught or graded in school. As a teacher, I wondered how you would know if you were doing a good job at these. Could I tell if a student was more creative or more resourceful after playing Minecraft for a while? Would I be able to judge if the students were working better as a team? Are these useful skills for schools to teach or should they be learned outside of the classroom?
Other students said that Minecraft teaches knowledge about certain topics, like architecture, farming, minerals, and civil engineering. These are not usually taught in school. What should middle schoolers know about these topics? If you learn how to create a subway system or grow wheat or smelt gold ore, is that a valuable life skill?
Students said Minecraft can be used to make models from history, geography, and the fine arts. You could create a village or design a backdrop for a play. Maybe Minecraft can replace the cardboard diorama!
And finally, we had some students who are skeptics of Minecraft in the classroom. These students felt Minecraft is a video game, and while it's fun to play and is creative, it isn't meant to teach anything academic and it would be pretty tough to make it academic. This is definitely what we hope to find out this quarter - we think Minecraft can be used to explore things like geometry, but is it useful for middle school math topics like algebra? Can you use it to learn about science or history, or is this mostly just a fun video game?
Today, we will use the tutorial world and ask the question: What rules and norms do you need to have in place when there are 30 people interacting together on a server?