With gaming being a part of majority of young people’s lives on a day to day basis, it would be silly not to play on these interests as teaching and learning method.
“Ofcom Report (2011) states that gaming is hugely popular in the UK with almost 86% of 5-7 year old children and 90% of 8-11 year old children using gaming devices regularly.”(Microsoft, 2001)
When playing games in school, it is often looked at as being a reward so by incorporating this into lessons, children may not look at is as work but rather would be more engaged and retain what they have learnt better.
“Bray (2012) states that in a classroom setting, games should not just be used as rewards or for entertainment but as a whole new approach to learning.”
(Slideshare.net, 2012)
Game based learning is not only fun and different from your usual type of learning but also allows different skills to be worked on.
Beauchamp (2012) states that the type of skills that could be developed by ICT games are:
- Strategic Thinking
- Planning
- Communication
- Application of numbers
- Negotiating Skills
- Group decision-making
- Data Handling Skills.
(Beauchamp, 2012, p.10)
I was looking forward to this session and how it would unfold as it was something that I didn’t have a lot of knowledge of. It is an important and exciting aspect that as a teacher, in a society where digital technology and learning through this is apparent in everyday life, it is important that we engage and continue to develop and learn whilst moving along with the times and the new and upcoming technology to be able to fully enhance and capture the students attention and learning.
In this session we explored Minecraft and ways in which it could be used as a stimulus for learning. Having little cousins who play Minecraft, I watched them play and seen some of the different things that you can do on it. However, I have never played it before, and this was the same for others in my group, so we decided to watch 
some YouTube clips on how to play it in order to gain some more knowledge before coming up with our idea. We also decided to download the version of the game we were using and have a little play with it so we could really get an understanding of it.
Our idea allowed many different curricular areas to be involved, so much so that we felt that we could actually use this as a topic to study in class. We incorporated area such as expressive arts, languages, numeracy/mathematics, social studies and technologies. We aimed this activity at second level.
Our idea was to make the make the Minecraft activity based on architecture and building. The children would research important landmarks and buildings and decide on one they wanted to use. For example, Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, Edinburgh Castle etc. They would have to research about this building or landmark for example where it came from and a bit about the place where it is situated. They would then put this information into a fact file which links to literacy and digital technologies as the fact file would be typed up. Also, in this fact file the would have to include what shapes the building has and is made up of. Therefore, bringing in the maths curriculum. Once the fact file is complete, the children would then recreate their chosen building or landmarks using Minecraft.
The curriculum experiences and outcomes we met were:
- I can select ideas and relevant information, organise these in an appropriate way for my purpose and use suitable vocabulary for my audience. (LIT 2-06a)
- We met this experience as the children would be creating a fact file to present the information. They would also be researching their chosen landmark and presenting their work t peers.
- I have the opportunity to choose and explore an extended range of media and technologies to create images and objects, comparing and combining them for specific tasks. (EXA 2-02a)
- This was met as children would sketch and plan what their landmark or building will look like. They would also be learning about different architectures and their features.
- I have worked with others to explore, and present our findings on, how mathematics impacts on the world and the important part it has played in advances and inventions. (MTH 2-12a)
- This is met as the children would be identifying structures of buildings and what shapes are used and whether symmetry is used.
- I can discuss issues of the diversity of cultures, values and customs in our society. (SOC 2-16c)
- This is met as they would be exploring different cultures and places and producing a detailed report on these findings.
We took into consideration the four capacities of the curriculum which are being a confident individual, successful learner, responsible citizen and an effective contributor. Here are the four capacities and how we wanted to meet them:
Confident Individual
- To develop and communicate their own beliefs and views of the world.
- To achieve success in different areas of the activity.
Successful Learner
- To think creatively and independently.
- To lean independently and as part of a group.
Responsible Citizen
- To develop knowledge and understanding of the world and Scotland’s place in it.
- To have an understanding of different beliefs and cultures.
Effective Contributor
- To work collaboratively.
- To take to initiative and lead if needed.
- To be creative and develop ideas.
- To solve problems.
I enjoyed this lesson and can clearly see the benefits of game-based learning as there is so many links in the curriculum and paths you can go down with it. However, I do think if using this in a classroom there has to be targets and goals set with clear objectives to ensure that the students do stay focused on the task at hand and remember that although it is fun, it is also a learning experience. If I was to Minecraft as a learning experience, I would have to learn more about it and how to use it so that I can teach and support the students the best I can.
References
Beauchamp, G. (2012) ICT in the Primary Classroom: From Pedagogy top Practice. Pearson.
Microsoft (2001). Computer Games Chapter 1 –. [online] Slideshare.net. Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/Microsofteduk/playful-learning-computer-games-in-education/6-Computer_Games_Chapter_1_Why [Accessed 5 Mar. 2019].
Slideshare.net. (2012). Playful Learning: Computer Games in Education. [online] Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/Microsofteduk/playful-learning-computer-games-in-education [Accessed 5 Mar. 2019].
Www2.gov.scot. (2010). Curriculum for Excellence: Building the Curriculum 3: A Framework for Learning and Teaching: Key Ideas and Priorities. [online] Available at: https://www2.gov.scot/Publications/2010/06/02152520/1 [Accessed 5 Mar. 2019].
