Earlier in the school year a group of three teachers at my school wrote a grant expressing the need to incorporate Minecraft in the classroom. The idea actually started last summer when a colleague and I attended a professional development event in Downers Grove. During one of the sessions I met two teachers from nearby school districts that used MinecraftEdu in a school club. What they had to say caught my interest and two other teachers and I decided to start a school club in 2016. We wrote the grant and it was accepted. Last week the licenses were purchased and I’ve explored the potential of using the program in the classroom setting.
Before the school year started I knew very little about how to use Minecraft. I decided to purchase a copy and explore the Minecraft world over the summer. I quickly learned the controls and watched a number of YouTube videos to become a better rookie. I’m still a rookie. I found the MinecraftEdu community online and started posting questions to the forums. Moderators answered my questions and I started feeling more comfortable using the program on my own. The forum has been especially valuable in giving me ideas to use in the classroom.
I downloaded a few world templates and started brainstorming. I then bounced a few ideas off of colleagues and decided to start using the program for a math scavenger hunt. The goal was to have students get used to using the program in an education setting while reviewing fraction math concepts in the process. Most students already understood the controls and the game but weren’t used to using it for a different purpose. I wanted to start simple and I thought a scavenger hunt would be an easy way to start incorporating the program in my math class.
Math scavenger hunt – third grade
Students entered into the fraction world that I created. Once they entered into the world I froze all of them. I explained the goal of the world and answered questions. The goal was to explore the world and find the signs that were posted. Students were using the MinecraftEdu version where they weren’t able to build or keep inventory of items. Trap doors, caverns and bridges were all part of this simple world. Each sign had a particular math problem on it and students were expected to solve the problem. I then passed out a sheet that went with the scavenger hunt. The sheet had spaces for students’ number models and solutions.
I then unfroze the students and they were off to the races. Students split up and started exploring the area. They soon found that working in teams seemed to be more efficient in finding the signs. All students were finished with the scavenger hunt in 30 minutes. Afterwards the class reviewed the answers.
House building – fifth grade
I created a completely flat Minecraft world for this activity. Students were grouped into teams and given a task related to concepts that we’ve been discussing. The fifth grade class has explored area and perimeter and will eventually be investigating volume in January. Each group was asked to create a building that met a certain criteria. It was stated that each Minecraft “block” was exactly 2 feet on each side. Those measurements were used to meet the criteria.
Students worked together and started building their houses. A few groups had to restart as they found out that the perimeter and area didn’t meet the criteria. After around 30 minutes students are about 50% complete with their houses. I’m assuming that another 30-40 minutes and the students will be finished with their projects. At some point after break the class will be presenting their buildings to the class.
In January my school will be offering a Minecraft club to around 25 elementary students. We’re planning on building our actual school from scratch using some type of scale model. The students are already excited to be using this program in school and I’m looking forward to what students create and the process involved in that creation.
Educational Aspirations 
I really like the high scalability of this task Matt and how the context would lead nicely into volume. For example, create a building with a volume of 28 cubes. Then as an exploration you could turn around and ask “what is the fewest amount of blocks you could use that would create a volume of 36?”
I’ve heard about teachers using Minecraft but nice to see it in practice. Thanks for sharing and good luck with the club.
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Graham, I see a lot of potential with using prompts like “what is the fewest …” These types of prompts offer low-risk opportunities for students to test out theories in the Minecraft world. Thanks for stopping by and adding your ideas.
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