Experiences of MinecraftEDU

New to use Minecraft in education?

I have some experiences to share...

They need a ruler

If you think you as a teacher shouldn't be needed anymore when you add a game you're wrong. I thought so myself, but had to change my attitude after my very first 36 hours in game, the time it took for my students to build up a city and started to argue about childish things (scale of houses, amount of houses, roads and such). And we started the vanilla server on Thursday and Saturday morning I had to clear out some conflicts...

During those first 36 hours they had built what you see in the first 1:40 minutes in this clip. What comes to city building you could use this Swedish site Futurecity.nu and it's lessons plans (lektionsplaner) and use Google Translate on it, that would be enough to get inspiration.

Student democracy works to a certain limit but you as the teacher have to be the president of your new world. Students can be prime minister, minister of transport, minister of education, Minister of agriculture but you can't leave all responsibility to only students!

Your present in the classroom or the virtual classroom have never been as important as now. You need to have them focused on the target and your goals, they need your guidence.

Besides been doing a full scale practice of using a government in Minecraft (without add myself as president) I have also tried to mirror a student group as a company (nuclear power) and I got the same result / experience. 

The emperor Teacher is vital in game!

Small modules rather than a large entity

What went wrong? Well, the whole (task) became too large. They didn't know where to begin and therefor they did anything (else) but what you (as a teacher) had planned or hoped for. 

I once had a modded server with industrial craft, and as that mod enable you to make nuclear power and nuclear weapons I thought that was a challenge they would be interested to solve.

What I thought they should build (picture from here)

What they actually built

First when I stepped in and gave everyone a task to fulfill they started to come closer to my master plan. But I had to make them understand they needed to have builders, workers, woodcutters, guards and more. Expecially when you add a game, a chance to work in 3D, students struggle with the big picture. With that said, they have easier to understand coordinates in Minecraft (3 axes; x, y & z) than on paper (2 axes; x & y), an example here. 

Before they start to build they should have a working gameplan!

The SAMR model

If your biggest challenge is that you're afraid of boring the kids when you start each lesson with "build a model of..." you don't yet have realized the full power of Minecraft.

I know SAMR model is severely criticized but when you use Minecraft in education it's a very good tool to use, I've bloged about it here.

If you only tell your students to "build a model of..." you havn't changed the task enough to achieve more learning. You're only on level two of the SAMR model: augumentation.

You have to change the task, and it's here many teachers start to criticize the SAMR model as you now have to change your course content which, of course, mean more work for you. Deeply sorry, but those teachers are not only lazy but also to blame that students of today loses interest of education. 

As my school now should use the SAMR model, our teacher's usually not come any longer than step 2: augumentation and here's my favourite example. In the mother tongue course you should read a book and write an essay of it, let's check SAMR model:

Substitution

Instead of write the essay on paper, students now write it with Google Docs.

Augumentation

Students collaborate in google docs and are also able to comment each other work.

Modification

Students read the book and build the book in Minecraft

Redefinition

Students roleplay the book story inside Minecraft, make a movie of it and upload it to Youtube. You have to come up with a storyline, you have to document the whole process and while do that you can prove you have understood the book in several ways than just on paper.

Now we have changed the task from only read the book and write about it to experience it and also transformed it to a complete new task.

Cross curriculum

Next thing that traditional teacher's hates: when you adopt tech in your teaching, you're also going cross curriculum. The book example above is not only language but STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).

So, the good thing is, if you're colleagues are open minded, they don't have to use a game in their classes, but use the magic of it. For example, we're now have eSport as a free elective course. The best way to help our students to improve in their hobby is to help them with exercises in the gym (strength and endurance), language teacher have the course as a discussion topic, math teachers can use the topic to probability theory, the four operations, percent and statistics.

Lego

If you need inspiration what to build, use plain LEGO instructions. Together with my daughter we've built Friends Lego inside Minecraft where she had to reflect over scale, math, problemsolving and be creative.

Previous examples and experiences:

• Technical drawing, math and scale
• Math & Physics, velocity mostly
• Math, inspiration
• Math, geometry test including the test (linked)

Learning with WonderQuest

The other day AquaVera got an old decommissioned iPad from her uncle, the tool can not be upgraded from iOS 5 so it was useless for him. But since Vera belongs to the YouTube generation, it doesn't matter as long as a browser works. When I look in my YouTube history (where she use to watch from) there's a lot of crap that I even don't know how she finds (as she can't write), but still look at.

So with this "new" iPad I could make a shortcut to the YouTube in the browser (safari) so she always starts from Stampys new show "WonderQuest". Adam Clarke told me the exciting news he would be a part of it half a year ago, at a time when I was stupid enough to not understand his excitement! I had missed the Stampy phenomenon! Stupid, but at least I had repaired it now :)

Anyway, AquaVera as many of her friends, has already two languages to learn as we live in Finland: the majority language is Finnish and Swedish is the minority language. As her mum is Finnish and I'm Swedish, she already speaks two languages. But keep in mind: that's nothing unusual in Finland, even if the Finnish themselves don't always count it as a qualification.

Thanks to the TV-channel NickJr and Dora The Explorer she has already learned some English. When we moved to this new neighborhood there was a family where the father is from Scotland, the children are also two speakers: but Finnish and English instead.

Combine those facts: 

Dora the Explorer, WonderQuest and English speaken friends and you will only have one answer - she now talks three languages... She has learned a lot during this summer (not only swim, bike and so on).

This morning we talked about learning as she has been watching WonderQuest over and over. She had loads of questions, both of gaming and learning. Why a quest line? Why do you need a mission? Why challenges and puzzles?

Learning.

Different ways of learning.

And we agreed, learning is - or can be - fun. 

And when it's fun it's most often multplayer.

Two weeks ago AquaVera played Disney Universe, a co-op pvp action video game, with her second cousin W. 

They practiced collaboration and later took this new skill try to steer and navigate our boat (they took turns), not bad for two 7 year old children.

Again, all you (as a parent or teacher) have to do is show interest (you don't have to master the subject) and tie all together, enlighten the learning, get them to reflect (talk, discuss, write, chatt).

Learning is not any longer one subject at a time (the analog way, teachers and school), it's multi-learning (the digital way, our children and pupils).

WonderQuest is a shining example of multi-Learning, even without having English as native language! Why? The enviroment is safe, they have been (and can go) there themselves and afterwards you can download the map and experience the last episode (press buttons, solve puzzles) and learn more. 

The show also follow the USA common core of grade 2 in the curriculum and according to Wizard Keen they aim to create an engaging story driven content multi-Learning enviroment (science, math, literature etc). 

And the makers reach a bonus learning that are so obvious that they don't think about it: language. 

English for non-English speakers. 

And just as important: courage. 

"Dad, call Wizard Keen and see if he wants to play Minecraft with me, English won't be a problem!" 

(AquaVera 7yo)

Suggestion to the makers: 

Make exercise books inside Minecraft that you could get access to after downloading the map, could be keywords (vocabulary) from the current episode.

This way of teaching is definitely on the fourth stage of the SAMR model. Tech has made the impossible possible, you can walk inside the exercise book and experience the learning in a 3D way.

Best of all: 

As a remedial teacher (vocational institution) I can use the small "I WONDER" episodes myself when I try to explain the basic stuff for my weaker students. Most often they rather learn from YouTube instead of a book. One of the frequent missing knowledge is measurements, metre, decimetre and centimetre. I believe I will have good use of this episode the upcoming fall

Economics with WoW ended

Yesterday we completed our project in which we have used the game World of Warcraft to teach business administration. Inside the game, we have started a guild that reflects a real company. Investors formed a board that appointed a President. The CEO brought together a management team and the remaining students were employees. 

The share capital was 68,000 gold and then the income statement was made four months later, we had a profit of 11,755g. 

In addition to the invested capital, investors also received dividends and salary employees on work performed.

With our mentor's advice, we have concentrate on different products, with the area's responsibility to see if we can increase the invested capital. We have had some communication misses and the latest expansion corresponded in many cases not the expectations why some lost inspiration to play. 

We have been practicing it important to be able to run your own real company. All of our students have not previously been interested in economics but feel that the game helped them to understand economics better. The project's mentor was satisfied with the project because it proved to be an easier way to learn on than many times a textbook. World of Warcraft proved to be a good sandbox.

Important lessons for us teachers:

• The teacher in the game must have the same rights (or options to check) that the appointed CEO. Personal responsibility does not work as good as hoped.
• The teacher outside the game must gather participants every two weeks, like one hour: to repeat, reflect and remind the project goal.

Why did it work?

Using a computer game (in this case, World of Warcraft) differs from traditional teaching in the classroom. Suddenly we have gained access to a concrete case in which our students can perform financial transactions that affect their way of understanding how financial markets work from a digital, social and educational content that both affect and are important to them. 

By the digital world as World of Warcraft adds, we can execute trades in a way that had not been possible with just paper and pencil because there already exists an economic system in the game that students are very interested (third level of SAMR: Modification).

Even beyond our educational mission is the project idea is already alive and exist, it creates entirely new conditions that would not be possible in a regular classroom situation (fourth stage of SAMR: Redefinition).

The trade that students make in the game affect other players who are not part of the task, which makes their actions have a greater impact than just within the school framework. This in turn means that students take greater responsibility and understand that every action has a consequence on other players, just as it is in the financial market where all the transfers have consequences.

Minecraft & SAMR

My daughter Vera (Minecraft: AquaVera) goes in pre-school and the teachers use the old fashion, more traditional way of teaching. I still think they are trying to do the best possible, after their circumstances (no computers). Now when they have a project to build the kids own houses with cardboard they're also out, walking to see how everyone lives. I also believe young people needs a mix of learning methods, but as she anyway had this project and she wanted us to play Minecraft we agreed it could be awesome to build our house (and apartment) inside the game. 

Suddenly, while building our house it hit me, I'm using the SAMR model: what can I learn from this? 

These are my conclusions as I have come to when using Minecraft instead of cardboard house project. SAMR is based on the technology to improve or transform (four steps) way to learn and to define the data. And the picture is from EdTechVoice.

SUBSTITUTION

We replace paper and pencil with technology.

AUGUMENTATION

We build our house and apartment in Minecraft, the technology works as a direct replacement for other tools, with functional improvement (to be built and watch it in 3D at scale, etc). I started with the foundation and after building a wall, she understood where we were and what we were going to build.

 

MODIFICATION

We have went out and taken pictures of the house in order to re-create the best possible way, the technology also makes it possible to major changes in approach (of our build).  

The collage of images above are some of the nearly 40 she took when we were out and thought about how we make the model better.

REDEFINITION

AquaVera has filmed how our house looks like and together we have shoot inside Minecraft to show our build. The technology enables tasks that are not possible without technology. 

REFLECTION

We have together been thinking what we had learned, when and why. 

Vera told me, as a result of taking pictures of our house (phase 3) she has a better idea how to paint the cardboard project and from phase 4 she now has an idea how to create her model so it look as our flat. You could say she has become better at analyzing information and that's her learning. Build phase was fun, but we've done that before.

In both cases she looking forward to play with the models, both methods are in her opinion fun and gives her different points of view. Young people need both variety and help to evaluate their newfound knowledge.

I have learned that from small steps be able to see a whole picture and how I can then use the experience in other contexts. Also, this particular type of discussion is the most important in the educational development. 

It creates insights, it creates confidence to teachers / trainers, it enhances learning for students. This type of discussion is in my experience the essence of educational development!