«
»

Minecraft 06: Lessons Learned doing History with Minecraft in the Middle Years

 
Classroom Router
Off-line WiFi router allows students to connect with their personal devices.
Minecraft Propylaea of the Athenian Acropolis
Propylaea of the Athenian Acropolis constructed by three grade 8 students. A report accompanies their project describing the historical context , dimensions, and changes over time.
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Minecrafting
Students using their own devices to collaborate on history Minecraft project: Laptop, Nintendo DS and two iPods
Propylaea of the Acropolis
A floor plan and sketch of the Propylaea of the Athenian Acropolis - reference material for constructing a scale model in Minecraft.

Shortly after embarking on the project with our donated set of non-networked laptops, students asked if they could bring their own devices. A few students even figured out how to get an old WiFi router I had kicking around to serve as a hub for their server hosted on a Nintendo DS. Other students with iPods were able to connect and collaborate on their creations. I was able to log in and tour around with my iPad. Students quickly "adopted" one of the laptops for their projects and were excellent at negotiating and sharing access over the course of the project.

A small group of normally disengaged students were suddenly front and centre in the classroom sharing their video gaming expertise, leading the way with their considerable skill set using Minecraft. I even had one of them ask for the most challenging Greek structure to recreate because he wanted something hard to do!

A handful of the Minecraft high-flyers were frustrated at times just wanting to do it all themselves; we talked about team work, about planning up front a shared vision of the final product and determining areas of responsibility so everyone has a visible piece to the final product. Some students were happy to focus on the written elements - the research and math needed to calculate scale and proportions, and provide the historical context for these structures.

Another neat aspect of this activity is the responsibility that the students have taken for the process. More than most projects, I was the guide on the side, asking the questions, setting up classroom experts with those in need, troubleshooting technical problems, and helping teams build relationships. They know I am not the expert with this medium, content expert, perhaps, but not the communication expert. They rose to the challenge.

Having an immersive virtual space for their project makes possible vidtual field trips. I have briefly connected with a few educators on Twitter about sharing Minecraft product - video guided tours, or even live guided tours on a shared server space with a Skype connection. Our infrastructure at the moment is nowhere near where we need it to be to reach the full promise of international cooperation and engagement, but we can take what we have and make something happen.

Lastly, a couple of technical things that will save us future frustrations:

Make your bed. When you re-enter the game, or re-spawn after dying, you re-emerge at the bed location. If you build to far away from your bed site, it can be a challenge to find your structure when you re-enter the game.

Screen Shots are important. Simply press F2, it will grab a picture of whatever is on the screen and save it in the .minecraft data folder. Use it to accumulate evidence of progress, or to prove accomplishments in the event that the world is lost or destroyed.

Posted by milesmac on February 10th, 2012 Posted in Gamification, Projects Tagged as: ,,,

5 Comments

  1. A Device that Students Really Want to Use | The Geek Department says:
    April 3, 2012 at 9:00 AM

    [...] Miles MacFarlane is writing on his blog about his experiences with using the online game Minecraft in his classroom. I think the following should really stick out to educators that are struggling to get some of their students to engage: A small group of normally disengaged students were suddenly front and centre in the classroom sharing their video gaming expertise, leading the way with their considerable skill set using Minecraft. I even had one of them ask for the most challenging Greek structure to recreate because he wanted something hard to do! [...]

    Reply
  2. Imelda says:
    November 20, 2012 at 6:07 AM

    Really interested in what you are doing with Minecraft! Good on you for engaging those kids who otherwise would never engage!

    Reply
  3. Justin says:
    December 21, 2012 at 1:58 AM

    I agree. This is a fantastic idea and a great way of engaging kids by using their and utilizing their world. I have started using Minecraft in a new gaming writing program.

    Reply

Leave a Reply