Minecraft continues to grow as an essential part of my academic curriculum, as well as, after school clubs. I continue to be amazed by how deeply the game engages young people. I use the word "game" hesitantly, though, as it doesn't quite seem to capture the possibilities presented by Minecraft. There really are some amazing opportunities for learning, collaboration, and creativity inside the game. Recently, I've joined an online community of educators using Minecraft (mostly the MinecraftEDU mod), and I've seen the possibilities. Check us out.
By far, the most impressive resource I've found is a map made by a teacher named Eric Walker. He uses the map to teach the humanities. The scope of the map is breathtaking. He has recreated structures from the ancient world, fantastic fictional locales, and placed them all inside the game world. See just a few of the sites below:
By far, the most impressive resource I've found is a map made by a teacher named Eric Walker. He uses the map to teach the humanities. The scope of the map is breathtaking. He has recreated structures from the ancient world, fantastic fictional locales, and placed them all inside the game world. See just a few of the sites below:
If you don't find those impressive, then you should probably just skip the rest of this post. In case you'd like to download and use the map, you can find it here:
In several pictures you can see little columns with a blue, lower-case 'i.' Those are information blocks that give the students information about the structures or direct them to complete various assignments. What a wonderful way to learn about humanities.
In my last post, I spoke about my students playing more traditional games. Specifically, they've been playing Warcraft III, an intense strategy game with beautiful graphics and sound. I guess I wasn't really surprised when they asked to play Minecraft instead. Well, they're getting their wish. My plan is to begin to create an epic Minecraft map that might someday rival Mr. Walker's map. So, I'm putting my high school students to work. We've recently invited about ten sixth-graders into the game club. We had to because if I hadn't given these middle school students a chance to play Minecraft, there would have been a revolt!
So, we're going to be working together--some of the oldest students at SEED and the youngest. We are just getting started, but we're going to be tracking our progress with a wiki.
Currently, we're working to decide which seed to use. Seeds are like world templates. As we begin to add to the seed we choose, we will keep updating the wiki so feel free to stop by and see how we're doing!
In several pictures you can see little columns with a blue, lower-case 'i.' Those are information blocks that give the students information about the structures or direct them to complete various assignments. What a wonderful way to learn about humanities.
In my last post, I spoke about my students playing more traditional games. Specifically, they've been playing Warcraft III, an intense strategy game with beautiful graphics and sound. I guess I wasn't really surprised when they asked to play Minecraft instead. Well, they're getting their wish. My plan is to begin to create an epic Minecraft map that might someday rival Mr. Walker's map. So, I'm putting my high school students to work. We've recently invited about ten sixth-graders into the game club. We had to because if I hadn't given these middle school students a chance to play Minecraft, there would have been a revolt!
So, we're going to be working together--some of the oldest students at SEED and the youngest. We are just getting started, but we're going to be tracking our progress with a wiki.
Currently, we're working to decide which seed to use. Seeds are like world templates. As we begin to add to the seed we choose, we will keep updating the wiki so feel free to stop by and see how we're doing!
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