Tuesday 5th March 2019
Today’s class was all about games-based learning within the classroom and in particular Minecraft Education Edition. I was a little apprehensive at first about this lesson as Minecraft is not something I have used or seen being used before. Even though as explained, “Minecraft is a worldwide phenomenon. Since it was first released back in 2011, it’s been taken to the hearts of thousands and thousands of gamers.” (How to do Everything in Minecraft, 2014, p3), I have only ever heard of people moaning about how their child is addicted or it is all the speak about. However, after doing a little background reading and taking the time to download and explore the app, I was pleasantly surprised and can understand how it can become addictive.
Games based learning has so many positive possibilities for children and teachers, the skills children can learn and develop from ICT games are unbelievable. Beauchamp, believes these skills to be:
- Strategic Thinking
- Planning
- Communication
- Application of Numbers
- Negotiating Skills
- Group decision-making
- Data Handling Skills
(Beauchamp, 2012, P10)
I agree with Beauchamp and since watching my two children grow up I can see first-hand how much they learn through play. When they were younger and they started playing with dolls and babies, I saw them develop their communication skills to today when on their iPads and playing games they are developing their decision-making and thinking skills. One specific game I have noticed this with is ‘Sumdog’, this is a game my daughter plays both in school and at home. She has been given her login details so she has the chance to expand her learning when at home, which she does, and I must admit it is a struggle to get her to stop playing sometimes. It is a mathematical game, but you can also develop a profile, where you can decorate rooms, collect pets and change your clothes. As you complete the challenges it gets harder which is also great as it is helping them develop their mathematics knowledge.
Our task today was to work in groups and plan an interdisciplinary lesson using Minecraft Education Edition. I worked in the same group as I have done for the previous two tasks and felt this was the best option as we were all a little unsure of how exactly the software worked, meaning we could take our time and share our new findings with each other. Although this task was limited to a two-hour timescale, we thought it would be best to take some time at the beginning to ‘play’ about with the app and watch some tutorial clips that were given to use by our lecturer. These were very insightful and can be found here:
(Microsoft Studios, 2019)
(Shanyaski, S. 2017)
(Boss, S. 2018)
Once we had got our heads around the basics and explored Minecraft, we started on our lesson plan. We thought since Minecraft is all about survival and developing that we would aim our lesson around renewable energy. We thought that within the classroom the children would all have an iPad each and work in small groups, with a group building homes with the addition of solar panels, another building wind turbines and also creating water wheels. The possibilities are endless and would encourage children to develop ideas that you would never have thought of, and as Bray (2012) states, “Games-based Learning has the most transformational impact when it is combined with good learning and teaching.” We realised this would not just be a single lesson it would have to be months of work researching and discovering the different forms of energy to figure out how they work. Obviously, this lesson would be aimed at second level children due to the previous educational attributes required for the task. With this in mind we chose four experiences and outcomes that related most to our lesson and also the level the children would be at. They are:
HWB 0-14a -4-14a
I value the opportunities I am given to make friends and be part of a group in a range of situations.
(Education Scotland, n.d. P14)
TCH 2-07a
I can make suggestions as to how individuals and organisations may use technologies to support sustainability and reduce impact on our environment.
(Education Scotland, n.d. P309)
SOC 2-08a
I can discuss the environmental impact of human activity and suggest ways in which we can live in a more environmentally responsible way.
(Education Scotland, n.d. P287)
MTH 2-17d
Having investigated where, why and how scale is used and expressed, I can apply my understanding to interpret simple models maps and plans.
(Education Scotland, n.d. P205)
Once everyone had their lesson plan finished, we had to present it to the other class members. This was very interesting as we were able to find out other people’s ideas and all of the ideas were brilliant. Members of the class are a lot younger than me and have grew up with Minecraft, so they had extensive knowledge of how Minecraft works, and their ideas were amazing. I learned more in-depth possibilities of the Minecraft software just from listening to my classmates, which just goes to show that sharing our ideas will help us to become better educators.
In conclusion, todays class was a strange one, I am still unsure if I like Minecraft or not. I think this is mainly down to the fact I still cannot work it and I believe this would take a lot of spare time to grasp a deeper knowledge of all the ins and outs of the software. However, I believe it would be a great tool to use in class and would interest the children, so with that in mind I am definitely going to spend more time exploring the app to allow me the chance to use Minecraft when I become a teacher.
Deborah ♥
References:
Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary School; From Pedagogy to Practice. Pearson Education Limited.
Boss, S. (2018) The Best Starter/Survival House For Beginners! – Minecraft Tutorial (EASY!) [Online] Available: https://youtu.be/rdqP2IPb_lw [Accessed: 5 March 2019].
Bray, O. (2012) Playful Learning: Computer Games in Education. [Online] Available: https://www.slideshare.net/Microsofteduk/playful-learning-computer-games-in-education[Accessed: 5 March 2019]
Education Scotland. (n.d.) Curriculum for Excellence.[Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/documents/All-experiencesoutcomes18.pdf[Accessed:8 January 2019].
MagBook (2014) How to Do Everything in Minecraft
Microsoft Studios. (2019) Minecraft Education Edition. [Online] Available: https://education.minecraft.net[Accessed: 5 March 2019].
Shanyaski, S. (2017) Minecraft PE on iPad & iPhone basic getting started walkthrough in survival mode [Online] Available: https://youtu.be/EyeqrKKi0SU[Accessed: 5 March 2019].
