In today’s class, we had the opportunity to learn about using Minecraft in an educational setting from Heidi James. We began by logging into the desktop and having a few minutes to explore and try Minecraft. I personally had a bit of trouble in the beginning as I got stuck in the water and could not figure out how to get out. Fortunately, some of the students from the middle school came around and were able to help me. 

After a few minutes of “play” time, we learned a little bit about the boundaries and possibilities of Minecraft Edu. As the teacher, you have the ability to control everything and anything that occurs in your Minecraft server. I was surprised to see that she was able to freeze our screens so that no one had the chance to be distracted by our screens. There are two different modes of Minecraft; creative and survival. 

One of the students discussed how they were assigned to create a civilization during a certain time period. They were asked to create buildings and scenarios that would reflect the feudalism era. Another student built a life-size hedgehog cage which utilizes perimeter, area, and ratio skills. Some other options the teacher discussed were combining Minecraft and language arts to create landscapes for stories. Also, in Science, they had students re-create a human digestive system.

In the image above, you will see a variety of subject areas with Minecraft lesson plans divided into various grades. I found one called “Fairy Tale Reimagined” which allows students in grade’s k-5 to recreate fairytales in the world of Minecraft. This is a great tool for teachers to use and provide a creative outlet for students. Overall, I can see how Minecraft can be a beneficial educational tool. However, I currently do not feel comfortable using Minecraft in the classroom as I am not familiar enough with it yet.

– Ms. G 🙂