Tapping into Minecraft: Students Create a Minecraft Adventure

Minecraft has an attraction to our students. As a teacher you may have heard stories of what children get up to when using Minecraft or you may have had students asking if Minecraft can be used at school for a particular project or activity. Unless you have 'played' in a Minecraft world, our perception of Minecraft can be quite daunting and in turn treated with suspicion, in much the same way as a student requesting the use of 'Call of Duty' as a basis for a project. The fact is many of our students use their screen time at home building, creating, exploring, curating, collaborating with others and of course surviving (which does mean fighting off zombies and eating animals - if it's played in survival mode). Recent stats show

Taken from Minecraft Stats - https://minecraft.net/stats

The stats above do not include Consoles or the Pocket version (iPad etc). No wonder so many of our students talk about their Minecraft world. It is safe to say millions across the world are using Minecraft and the nature of the game allows these users to use Minecraft in many different ways.

Think of Minecraft as online world or lego in a unique and interactive environment. Minecraft is in fact an unfinished product that is being developed and improved year by year - low on graphic quality however high in 'playability'.
Apart from the survival aspect to Minecraft, our students have the opportunity to build and create and communicate with each other in real time. Mining for resources, building shelters, growing plants, farming animals - there are so many possibilities, infact from this point on, Minecraft can be taken to a level that requires a high level of deep thinking,  problem solving skills, online collaboration and programming,

As a teacher in a Primary school, I see this as a challenge to harness this opportunity that Minecraft gives us. Think of it this way a tool that provides:

• An online interactive world - movement, exploration and interaction in this world
• Collaboration and communication within this world
• Creation - find and use resources and build
• Student Engagement / Student Voice / Social interaction
• Opportunities for higher level thinking and problem solving
• A presentation tool in 3D
• A tool to promote positive social interaction
• Mapping and location skills

The elements of Minecraft  are many and varied. In regards to Learning and teaching, the following is an example of where we, as teachers, need to: 

enable - facilitate by planning and recognising the possibilities

support - allowing the opportunity to take place a

engage - allow the students to take control.

Here's my example  A Minecraft Adventure Game

Learning Intention - I can create a Minecraft Adventure Game that other students can play.

Success Criteria

• I can lead the players of my game through a sequence of events guided by signs
• I can use my Minecraft skills to create locations and build structures that enhance my game
• Players of my game are challenged in locating the signs and following clues and instructions
• Players of my game clearly understand the goal of the game 

All in all it was fascinating to watch our students engage in this project. The ideas, the thinking, the collaboration between the group really came together to produce something unique. To then watch the Year 2 students take the opportunity and develop their own games with the help of their Year 6 buddies set the scene for future projects.