My Minecraft journey lesson seven: Designing learning experiences

Description

In this lesson, participants explore three types of learning experiences. Participants consider how Minecraft: Education Edition can be used as a teaching and learning tool to support differentiated learning experiences for their students. Participants then choose to adapt an existing Minecraft: Education Edition lesson or design their own.

Lesson-Framing Question

How can I design a Minecraft: Education Edition learning experience for my students?

Lesson Objectives

  • Participants explore different types of learning and how Minecraft: Education Edition can be used as a tool to support each type.
  • Participants consider ways to differentiate students’ learning experiences using Minecraft: Education Edition.
  • Participants choose to adapt an existing Minecraft: Education Edition lesson or design their own lesson.

Module 1: Explore & Discover

Minecraft: Education Edition’s immersive environment makes it a great tool to support many different types of learning. Whether students are engaged in inquiry-based learning, project-based learning, or problem-based learning, this platform gives students the opportunity to invent, ideate, and create to make their learning come to life.

The open world environment of Minecraft: Education Edition lends itself to the authentic application of content and skills. Students can be given open-ended questions or tasks and go in-game to craft, build, and show their learning using the tools offered. Minecraft: Education Edition gives students autonomy and independence during the learning process; they are able to formulate questions and strands of inquiry, solve real-world problems, and create things straight from their imaginations.

Explore inquiry-based, project-based, and problem-based learning in a little more detail with the videos below. While you’re exploring, think about how Minecraft: Education Edition could be a tool to support each of these types of learning. You can write down any takeaways, ah-ha moments, or thoughts in your Course Notes document.

Module 2: Support for All Kinds of Learning Experiences

Inquiry-Based Learning

Inquiry-based learning is student-centered. It starts with a rich question, curiosity, or wondering from students and then moves into investigation where students explore, experiment, interpret data, and finally form conclusions which can sometimes lead to more questions.

Learn more about inquiry-based learning in this video.

Project-Based Learning

In project-based learning, projects are a part of the process. Rather than one culminating project, students complete multiple projects along the way. They actually create something—whether it’s an artifact or an actual solution. Students are able to have autonomy in both design and inquiry and participate in reflection and feedback, both personally and with peers. This creates more student ownership of the process.

Learn more about project-based learning in this video.

Problem-Based Learning

Problem-based learning lets students take the lead in learning about a subject by working in groups to solve an open-ended problem. This problem is what drives the motivation and the learning. 

Learn more about problem-based learning in this video.

Module 3: Differentiated Learning

Classrooms are comprised of various types of learners—no two learners being exactly alike. This makes differentiating the learning process very important. Often students are required to learn the same concepts, but they might not all reach mastery in the same way. Minecraft: Education Edition gives educators the flexibility to design and deliver instruction to best reach each student.

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Module 4: Differentiated Learning in Minecraft

In episode 5 of his video series, “Minewhat?”, Minecraft Global Mentor Ben Spieldenner reminds us that we “have to be the one who determines what different students need at different times.” Minecraft: Education Edition allows you the control to meet students’ needs while they are engaged in-game. Some ways to differentiate instruction while using Minecraft: Education Edition are:

  • Game Mode: choose which mode individual students play in: survival, creative, or adventure; you can assign different students different game modes within the same game (You can review Game Modes in Lesson 3)
  • Access to Inventory Items: give students specific items for their inventory based on their needs (You can review Inventory in Lesson 4)
  • Barriers: create barriers that act as borders in-game to keep students (or groups) in and out of certain areas (You can review Barriers in Lesson 3)

To learn more about these differentiation techniques, watch Ben’s full video. Note that the video is 20 minutes long, so you may want to plan extra time to finish it or watch it in sections.

Module 5: Cherokee County School District's Minecraft Experience

The Minecraft: Education Edition team documented how some inspiring educators from Cherokee County in Georgia U.S.A are using this tool to design and deliver differentiated learning experiences that give students the chance to solve real-world problems, practice life-ready skills, and exercise autonomy in what they learn and how they show their learning.

Check out the ways that these educators are leveraging Minecraft: Education Edition in their classrooms. As you watch, use your Course Notes document to note any takeaways you have or any lessons you might want to explore further. Watch the full video.

Module 6: Simulating Trade and Industry with Minecraft: Education Edition

Watch how educator Guill Strougo teaches trade and industry in his high school AP Human Geography class using Minecraft: Education Edition. Students learn and use Weber's model of industrial location to design a product and establish a market in Minecraft.

Try this economics lesson in your classroom.

Exploring Food Chains with Minecraft: Education Edition

Watch educator Tiffany Wilson teach food chains and energy transfer to her fourth grade students. Students use Minecraft: Education Edition to explore biomes, research ecosystems and design models of food chains.

Try this science lesson in your classroom.

Teaching the Science of Light with Minecraft: Education Edition

Media Specialist Jennifer Lewis developed this science lesson for her first grade students. Watch how they learn the concepts of artificial and natural light, and then use redstone to build circuits in Minecraft: Education Edition.

Teach this science lesson in your classroom.

Module 7: Try & Apply

It’s time to begin designing a learning experience for your students using Minecraft: Education

Edition. Consider what you’ve explored and learned throughout this course and the notes in your Course Notes document.

Before you begin, think about whether you’d like to try and adapt an existing Minecraft: Education Edition lesson to work with the content you would like to address or if you would prefer to design your own, unique lesson. After drafting your lesson, you will have a chance to submit it online to the Minecraft: Education Edition community in Lesson 8. You can draft your lesson in your Course Notes document, or in any format you choose.

Adapting an Existing Lesson

The Minecraft: Education Edition website offers numerous lessons created by educators from around the world. While each lesson is unique, they all share a few similarities:

  • Subject
  • Skills
  • Learning objectives
  • Guiding ideas and questions
  • Student activities

Take some time to look at one of the lessons linked below, or to find one that you’re interested in adapting by searching the lesson database. As you look at the lesson you choose, think about how it connects to curriculum or content you’re teaching. Also consider how it offers students opportunities to practice life-ready skills such as creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration.

Once you choose a lesson that is right for your class, make a list of the changes you will make to the current lesson to adapt it for teaching and learning in your classroom. Then, make a copy of the content of the lesson of your choice and prep the content to adapt it for your students. Be sure to note any changes you make to the specific skills, learning objectives, guiding ideas and questions, and student activities.

Designing Your Own, Unique Lesson

Designing a lesson in Minecraft: Education Edition requires some planning. To bring learning to life in Minecraft: Education Edition, you will need to consider how this platform can act as a tool to support the content and pedagogical methods you choose (you can learn more about this in Lesson 1 of this course).

Here is a suggested checklist of things you need to create your lesson:

  • Photo
  • Title
  • Short Description
  • Student Ages
  • Subject
  • Skills
  • Lesson Language
  • Learning Objectives
  • Guiding Ideas and Questions
  • Student Activities
  • Performance Expectations
  • External References
  • Supporting Files

'Remember, you can create your own world files or use ones already created in the Minecraft: Education Edition World Library.'

As you design your lesson, think about how it offers students opportunities to practice life-ready skills such as creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. Also, consider how you can work in opportunities to differentiate learning for your students.

Module 8: Reflect & Share

Reflect on your takeaways from this lesson. You have one lesson left, so record this reflection in your Course Notes document to look back at when you finish the course.

Feel free to share your reflection (and what you learned) via the My Minecraft Course Lesson 7 topic on Flipgrid or by tweeting it out using the #MinecraftEDU hashtag on Twitter.

Module 9: Questions to Consider

  1. How can Minecraft: Education Edition be used as a tool to differentiate learning for your students?
  2. What was the most rewarding part about adapting or designing your lesson? What was the most challenging part?
  3. What questions do you still have about using Minecraft: Education Edition? What would you like to know more about?

Module 10: Next Steps

Take the Lesson 7 quiz, then you can move on to Lesson 8.

Return to Overview Page.

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