Facilitating experimentation and teamwork among players using Minecraft

Facilitating experimentation and teamwork among players using Minecraft Twenty five eager and excited students arrived on Monday afterschool to start their first session. We started in tutorial mode where students had to work through different missions and scenarios learning the controls of Minecraft as they went. Often the students, who are more experienced in using Minecraft, were helping Mr Parsons or myself as we got lost or stuck.

“It’s great to have a Minecraft Club at school.  It gives us a chance to be creative and use Java & Python to programme our worlds to a greater extent”.  Jeenchai and Thun Year 11

By Teresa Loader, Head of ICT

Gamification in education is a hot topic at the moment in regards to the increased learning and engagement of students.  As Minecraft has such open possibilities and potential, teachers can choose how we want to use it. Just as the student has the ability to be creative, the teacher has the same. I recently watched a video, posted by a teacher from the UK, in which two students spoke about falling into "the pit" while learning and working their way out, about the joy of figuring something out. We, as teachers and as a school want to create more opportunities to fall into pits, where students can experience problems that are challenging but accessible to all.  This is why the ICT Department have recently purchased a 25 user license for MinecraftEdu which are now being used to run an after school activity on a Monday.  MinecraftEu is a school-ready remix of the original smash hit game.  It is a custom edition of the game with features designed especially for classroom use. 

Twenty five eager and excited students arrived on Monday afterschool to start their first session.  We started in tutorial mode where students had to work through different missions and scenarios learning the controls of Minecraft as they went.  Often the students, who are more experienced in using Minecraft, were helping Mr Parsons or myself as we got lost or stuck. 

Our aim is to “be ambitious” and try to recreate Regents International School Pattaya within Minecraft, learning about different subject areas as we progress.  Next week will be all about Ratio and Proportion whilst we get into teams to build the different areas of the school.