Hi Carly’s Crew!

I am happy to tell you I am now a Minecraft master…well almost. We had a middle school teacher and her students come in to teach us about Minecraft. I have never played Minecraft before and I had no idea that it could be used as an educational tool. The teacher shared how it can be used to enhance social studies, math or even language arts. One idea that stuck with me was getting students to create a Minecraft scene and then doing a free write about it. Another idea that stuck with me was creating ancient civilizations based on the 8 key characteristics that all civilizations have. Rich showed us a resource that contains pre-made lesson plans for Minecraft in classrooms. I think this lesson plan would be a super interesting approach to teaching grade 4/5 students about area and volume in a practical setting.

I loved learning about Minecraft but I also had a few concerns about how it could be implemented into the classroom. For one, I am not very good at maneuvering around the world and I definitely would not feel confident about teaching students how to use Minecraft. It can be a really cool experience to let students take on the role of the teacher and help teach Minecraft but this is definitely something requires the teacher to be vulnerable and be honest about what they don’t know. Also, I think Minecraft would only be appropriate to use to in a late elementary school classroom or middle school classroom. It would be too overwhelming for young students…it was even overwhelming for me! I still had lots of fun though and totally understand how it could be beneficial for the older students.

We also learned about Google Science Journal. Claire and I learned about Google Science Journal last week because we highlighted it in our EdTech blog! One drawback we talked about in class is that all students require a portable device like an iPad or phone and not all students have one. Similarly to Minecraft, this program would be best used in older grades and even into high school. My phone wouldn’t let me download it because my storage is full but I can’t wait to try it out in a classroom one day.

See you later Carly’s Crew!