Minecraft
I am a big fan of experiential learning and Minecraft is probably one of the best available tools to allow students to build and create in a fun and motivating environment. You may wish to explore this "blocky open world" and develop some activities/lesson plans etc. while answering your inquiry question.
Further Minecraft classroom resources:
Nomadic Education - Minecraft Lesson Plans
While many of the worthwhile videos are slightly awe-inspiring, what is useful is the mini introduction to Minecraft and what the author describes as, "Six characteristics [that] align well with the Minecraft learning environment and its operation." Food for thought as you approach this assignment. Minecraft Teacher - Trending Topic: Structured vs. Unstructured Play by Joel Levin (creator and co-owner of MinecraftEDU) In this short post, Levin talks about the "two extremes" and his thoughts on the MinecraftEDU mod. MinecraftEDU wiki This is listed within Assignment #6 itself but it is just too good a resource to not plug it again. Take what you need - verrry comprehensive. Pearltrees - Minecraft EDU "pearls" As the creators put it, "Pearltrees’ objective is to bring about democratization of the Web by enabling users to become individually and collectively editors of their own Web". I have used this several times and been able to access some very useful "webs" or links to resources. Give it a try. "TeacherCraft: How Teachers Learn to Use Minecraft in their Classrooms" by Seann Dickkers et al Simply, an amazing and lengthy "book" with chapters on many topics including validating the use of Minecraft, how to evaluate learning in the classroom and using Third Party tools. This will become one of the "bibles" on this topic. |
Resources:
1. "6 Steps to Successfully Integrate Minecraft in Your Classroom" by Zack Gilbert Some insights by a teacher with many practical thoughts about using this tool in the real world and likens it to "modern day Legos" - it will be around for a long time in his opinion. 2. Minecraft for Teachers - Google Group Educators like yourselves ask questions and share information leading to a very viable community of practice 3. Build Commands - The Ultimate Worldedit Toolkit (Over 30 Mapmaking Tools!) One of the many tools one can get in terms of helping to build and create in the world of Minecraft. Many more out there, just search... 4. Getting started with MinecraftEDU by Educade A great way to familiarize yourself with MinecraftEDU - presented as a lesson plan for students. Great stuff. Again, well worth it. Short and Sweet - an intro to Minecraft redux
What can I say? This really great tutorial goes through the basics of Minecraft and is excellent for those new to this learning environment. If you find yourself tapping your foot to the catchy acoustic guitar (a la "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" with Antonio Banderas) don't worry, you are not alone. Well worth the time. |