User:Vtaylor/Active learning/Minecraft

Minecraft is the most well-known example of a sandbox game.

Sandbox Games - offer a world of experience without clear objectives. Just like its life-world namesake, Minecraft is an open-ended creative space but with virtual shovels. Certainly the block world has unique properties (physics engine), but players can do whatever they want within those parameters. MinecraftEdu is a version of the game modified for education that allows teachers to create even more specific parameters that correlate to lesson plans.

Leveraging the Power of Minecraft Like other powerful learning games, well-structured Minecraft lessons give students opportunities to fail and try again, improve their skills, and participate in an immersive environment that aids retention because students can attach the academic concepts to their personal experiences within the game.

Teachers are finding ways to use Minecraft in every subject - history, literacy skills, foreign language, math, science - physics, biology.

STORY: For History it’s easy to download worlds other people have already made in Minecraft. Without much effort or time, a teacher can have a three-dimensional, accurate map of medieval London.

There is a lot of great information about using Minecraft in learning. Having some prior knowledge of Minecraft is essential to appreciate the details. Some how kids already know much of this so it may be best to work through some of these examples with a Minecraft user. The Story Path is an interesting example of using Minecraft for educational activities. It does include several advanced features in creative mode like redstone and pressure plates, command block, teleport, 3D space.

• Teaching with Games: GLPC Case Study: Joel - Joel Levin, a school technology integrator, works with second graders at Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School in New York City. Through his use of MinecraftEDU, a version of the popular commercial game Minecraft modified for educational purposes, Joel leads his 2nd grade class through structured game-based scenarios that emphasis self-directed learning, collaboration between students, and positive social interactions.

ALSO...

101 Ideas for Minecraft Learners is a video series designed to inspire creative learning using Minecraft.

• "Building a Story Path" shows you how to create a path that can tell a story as you walk along it, and is a great way to build narrative structure or engage an audience and show/tell them your ideas - you can even support your story by building cool structures to illustrate it, I don't need to tell you how to do that! http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Command_Block