Monday, 23 February 2015

Integrating meaningful Minecraft activities into the Curriculum.

 
 

 
Minecraft continues to be an impressive tool to ensure engagement from the pupils and develop opportunities for fantastic teaching and learning in the classroom. Along with the existing large number of apps and programs we use, it is making a positive impact on everyday teaching and learning. 

In my classroom we have both MinecraftEDU and the iPad app, Minecraft Pocket Edition.  As soon as I mention ‘workstations’ ‘iPads’ ‘Book Creator’ and the other apps we use the children are focused and engaged straight away.  I find this to be the case with Minecraft as well. Up until a year ago I thought Minecraft was just another game such as DOOM and FIFA as I had played as a child. However, over the course of the last few months I have been exploring the many opportunities for game based learning, in particular with Minecraft.

The best thing about implementing Minecraft into teaching and learning are the ideas from the children.  They are the experts in this game and nearly every day they are showing me new features and generating new ideas on how we can use it in school.  If you look at one of my previous posts, you can read about how we have linked up with the AmmA Centre in Armagh to design and build a 3D model of our school to scale with Minecraft and then use a 3D printer to create the model.  

Those new to the concept of Minecraft in education, as I was a year ago, will be wondering how it can be implemented in the classroom to maximise pupil engagement and deliver real and meaningful learning opportunities.  Some of my future posts will be dedicated to sharing these ideas.  For now please take a look below at the comments from the experts on how it can be used successfully in the classroom

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24 comments:

  1. Louise23 February 2015 at 07:43


    You can use Minecraft to do numeracy by doing area and counting the blocks.
    You can use Minecraft to do literacy by writing in blocks or planing what you are going to build.
    You can use Minecraft to do world around us by making Spacecrafts,Viking villages or making something that is based on what you are learning.

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  2. Charlie23 February 2015 at 07:50

    In World Around Us are theme is Space . In Minecraft we are building a spaceshuttle with different types of blocks. In Numeracy we could use volume and create boxes of all different sizes . In Literacy we could disign a story setting like an old rundown factory, a happy little cottage etc.

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  3. calum23 February 2015 at 08:00

    world around us it could help us because we can build different buldings like the titanic. numeracy it could help are area say we had to bulid a house we would need area. literacy we could bulid them out of are book.

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  4. Stefan23 February 2015 at 08:13

    In Literacy we could build the alphabet and are names.
    In Numeracy we could build volume,area and perimeter.
    In World Around Us we could build a story theme based on the Solar System.

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  5. Aimee23 February 2015 at 08:13

    Here are some ways that we can use Minecraft in our learning.
    In art we can design patterns and pictures.We can make structures with patters on walls.You can recreate real famous art pictures and make them into block art.In numeracy we can write out our times tables up to 12 times 12 in blocks.We can build floor and then calculate the length by the width by using area skills.We can make swimming pools and foundations and calculate the volume.In literacy you can write out a story in blocks.You can create the setting of your story.You can create the characters out of your story for your setting.In World Around Us you can create famous land marks like The Sydney Opera House.You could create a Viking village.You could even create a Chines Dragon.I hope you have found my passage useful goodbye.

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  6. Ellie23 February 2015 at 08:15

    In World Around Us we could use MineCraft for making a Space Shuttle or something to do with Space .Also our topic in class is about Space.
    In Numeracy we could use MineCraft for area by doing the width times the length.
    In literacy we could use MineCraft by making a setting for example a haunted house or maybe a beach house then afterwards we could write a story based on it.

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  7. Codie23 February 2015 at 08:22

    Minecraft can be used for World Around us because are topic is space and on minecraft we built a spaceshuttle. Minecraft could be used in numercy bacause MrO'kane told us to build our classroom like 12 blocks wide 12 m long and 5 blocks high and that ties in with area and area is numercy. Minecraft could be used in litarcy bacause of like a story setting the way Green group had to do a hunted of a story are something like that

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  8. Ellie-Mae23 February 2015 at 09:10

    In Minecraft you can do lots of things not just building a house. You can use Minecraft for Numeracy our class have being working with area and perimeter with Numeracy and Minecraft. How we used area and perimeter in Minecraft was by getting the area of our classroom and perimeter and building it. You can also use World Around Us with Minecraft . In our class our topic is Space so we built a space shuttle in Minecraft you can do lots of stuff with Minecraft. We also can use Literacy and link it in with Minecraft . By using your reading book and make a setting of your reading book like a hunted house or a football stadium.

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  9. Caleb23 February 2015 at 09:29

    minecraft is good for area because we have to follow the instroctions . It,s also good for listening skills because you have to follow instroctions.
    It,s good for world around us because youcanget different mod,s.

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  10. Kriastian23 February 2015 at 09:32

    Minecraft could help us with literacy by writing out letters, words and the alphabet. Minecraft could help us with numeracy by writing out numbers with blocks and counting up to 64 (a stack). Minecraft can help us with our World Around Us by using our theme to make buildings out of different blocks/materials.

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  11. Rachel23 February 2015 at 09:43

    Minecraft can be use for education . In World Around Us our theme is Space. We built a spaceshuttle and on the computer 4 people where trying to build the stand it sits on . In Numercy we our doing Area so Mr O Kane put up some sums on the board like 5 by 5 or 15 by 6 and we would do the Area. In Literacy you can use Minecraft to build settings for story's like green table did on Friday

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  12. Nikola23 February 2015 at 10:03

    We can use Minecraft in world Around Us because are theme is Space and we could build a spaceshuttle.Minecraft could be used in numeracy because we could do are times tables by building the numbers.Minecraft could be used in literacy because we could do a story setting like a haunted house or a school based on the story.

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  13. Emma D23 February 2015 at 10:44

    Here is how we can use MineCraft to do with school.
    In World Around Us we can use MineCraft to build famous landmarks such as the Tower of Pisa or the pyramids! Also our theme is Space, we built a huge Spaceshuttle on MineCraft worlds.
    We can use MineCraft for literacy by building a setting for a story that we have read or wrote, lastly for literacy we could take our spellings and write our words in the MineCraft world then present to Mr'Okane and the class.
    For numeracy we can use MineCraft by writing out our times tables or sums, we have also had to make a house and follow the instructions on the board for an example 5 blocks wide 7blocks long and 4 blocks high . This was a very popular activity in our classroom.

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  14. Emily23 February 2015 at 11:26

    At school we can use Minecraft pocket addition to do Numeracy , Literacy and World around us. We can use Minecraft pocket addition to help us in Area in Numeracy because we could build a house 7 blocks wide and 7 blocks long and 10 blocks high .In literacy you can use Minecraft pocket addition to build a setting of a story and on Friday green group had to build a hunted house setting.Are topic in world around us is Space so we can make a Space Shuttle so there are some ways to use Minecraft pocket addition for Numeracy , Literacy and world around us.

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  15. Hannah23 February 2015 at 11:57

    Using mindcraft in the classroom is a fun way of learning. At the moment we have used mindcraft to build a space shuttle as we are learning about space.We're also looking forward to measuring our classroom walls, window and doors in order to create a 3D plan of our classroom. Its a great way to be creative and learn at the same time.

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  16. Cormac23 February 2015 at 12:12

    Mind craft is an exciting way to learn in Mr O'Kane's classroom. To help us learn about the world around us, we used it to build a space shuttle. It has also helped us work out area of shapes such as rectangles, squares and compound shapes. I enjoy building and being creative.

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  17. Emma23 February 2015 at 12:12

    In World Around Us we could make a space shuttle with different types of blocks. In numeracy we could use Minecraft to do area and by counting the blocks. In literacy we could design a story setting like an old haunted house or a sweet little cottage.

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  18. Molly23 February 2015 at 12:15

    We use Minecraft pocket edition for lots of things like
    Numeracy= we use minecraft in numeracy for volume and area to build rooms
    and find out the volume that is inside the rooms.
    Literacy= we use minecraft in literacy for reading activitys maybe we could build the setting that we think is in the story by reading the book.
    World around us= we use minecraft in WAU because we were learning about Vikings and so we might build a Viking long ship in minecraft.

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  19. Reece23 February 2015 at 12:38

    We can use minecraft in World around us . We build spaceshuttles and we can also use minecraft for other themes.

    We can use minecraft in literacy to plan story backgrounds and build story sets

    We can use minecraft for numeracy with area and perimeter or divide and multiply blocks

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  20. Keegan23 February 2015 at 12:40

    MineCraft is good for our Numeracy because it teaches us about the length x by the width to find the area of a shape.

    MineCraft is good for our literacy because it helps us how to do a setting of a book.

    MineCraft is good for our World Around Us because of our topic Space. You can build a Space shuttle or a Space station and many other ways you can create something on MineCraft.

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  21. Leah23 February 2015 at 12:48

    We can use Mincraft Pocket Edition in Literacy for planning story's and plots.
    We can use Mincraft in Numeracy for helping us with our area by counting the blocks and we can use Minecraft with our lengths and widths.
    We can use Mincraft in World Around Us for building space shuttles and moons bases cause are topic is Space.

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  22. Katy23 February 2015 at 13:41

    In Minecraft Pocket Edition we use it for numeracy in area. We can build objects with area,volume and perimeter.
    For literacy we can also use it to build settings from stories in our creative like the green group did with a haunted house.
    In World Around Us we can use it to make things like our space shuttle and landmarks like the Eiffel tower.

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  23. Chloe23 February 2015 at 23:49

    In Minecraft we use it for Numeracy in area.we can build objects with area, volume and perimeter.
    For Literacy we can also make a setting for a haunted house.
    In World Around Us we can make a Space Shattle because it is our topic

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  24. Unknown4 March 2015 at 07:45

    Mr. O'Kane, can you fill me in with information on how to set up MinecraftEDU? Did you buy lots of licences to run the software in school, or did one licence cover all the desktops. Servers, did you buy a server also? I want to set it up in my class on four machines. I already have PE on the iPads, but want to get more people involved at the one time. Thanks. mrouse@c2kni.net

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