One of my drives at the moment is integrating Minecraft in education.
Minecraft Maths
This is Minecraft integrated into another teacher’s maths fraction &
decimal unit. Students were asked to apply their fraction knowledge
and understanding to create fraction and decimal gardens in Minecraft.
Minecraft selfies ignited the unit to get the students thinking of
fractions used to make up the facial features. This was an unplugged
activity.
As a team we navigated through Tutorial World ensuring everyone
had grasped the basics. No-one was allowed to progress until all
teammates had completed every task.
One laptop was set up as the local server, which kept the Fraction
World secure and contained within the St Margarets network.
The aim of the second unplugged activity was to plan students’ garden,
think about the fractions they are going to use and to also make them
aware of what is necessary to grow a garden.
In Minecraft, students chose their 10 x10 grid and erected a fence
or wall around their property to keep animals from trampling over the
plants and vegetables.
They experimented with a water source - fountains, waterfalls,
waterways and water holes.
Students needed to hoe the soil and have the necessary seeds/ plants
in their inventory before planting. They then constructed signs displaying
the fraction/ decimal/ irregular fraction
Some students erected torches to allow 24 hour growing time.
To show their learning, students captured their gardens by taking photos
to add to their learning portfolio. Portfolios were then downloaded as
photos into Google Drive and added to Linc Ed.
Google Minecraft
This lesson was ignited using Google Maps to investigate famous landmarks around the World.
Students screenshot an original photo of their chosen landmark. These photos were pinned to the
maps with student research information.
Their task was then to recreate their selected landmark in Minecraft as a team. To assist in
the building of this landmark student had a robot for help. In order for the robot to build, students
needed to input data into an array, within Lua computer programming and code the robot to build.
To grasp the idea of following an accurate set of instructions, a group of 3 students placed cards on
the floor . One student was a computer programmer, one a tester and the last a robot in Minecraft
(unplugged activity).
Students worked in teams of 3, with each person responsible for building a third of the selected
building. This required lots of teamwork, communication and cooperation
Minecraft Eco House
As a class we discussed the criteria:-
1.Their house/ abode/ structure needed to have low environmental impact.
Further group discussions brainstormed ideas like blending into the environment and using parts of
existing environment to compliment their build.
2. What they deemed as Sustainable materials varied, with some wanting conductive or renewable
materials whilst others wanted materials that resembled the environment.
3. Energy efficiency discussions were rich in solar energy, wind turbines and water power. Then
onto how these could be achieved in Minecraft.
The Chicken House
