‘Minecraft’ 101: Get to Know the Blocky Blockbuster
It’s official: Minecraft is now owned by Microsoft. The price? A cool $2.5 billion, which, even in a world where big money regularly flies back and forth, seems extravagant for a company with one hit video game to its credit. So what is it? Minecraft often draws comparisons to LEGO, and for good reason: It’s all about building things. Initially, that world is like a huge pile of unmolded clay, a blocky frontier. There are two modes to Minecraft: Survival and Creative. It looks scarier in the game. But most players would agree that this isn’t really a game about beating anything — it’s a game about flexing your creative muscle. That must have earned a big smile from Markus “Notch” Persson, the 35-year-old Swedish programmer/billionaire who invented Minecraft in his spare time. “I designed the game for myself — that’s an audience I know,” he once said, though he clearly underestimated his knowledge of the broader gaming audience.
7.1 Creating Killer Game Spaces - Learning Guide
What you need: -Multiple copies of “Playtester feedback work- sheet” per student-One copy of “Presentation worksheet” per studentWhat's attached: -Playtester feedback worksheet-Presentation worksheet Pacing: Total: 1 hour and 20 minutes Play - 10 minutesDiscuss - 10 minutesDesign - 30 minutesPlaytest and Iterate - 20 minutesCircle Up - 10 minutes LessonPlay10 minutes Choose a game or series of games in Gamestar Mechanic for your class to play that highlight the different kinds of game space. Discuss10 minutes 1. Describe the qualities of the game space in the game(s) you played. Describe how the design of the space affected how you moved through the game space. Describe how the game space affected what you chose to do in the space.Design30 minutes 1. 2. 3. Give students time to playtest each others’ games. Circle Up10 minutes 1. 2. What is the idea behind your game space? How did the concept change from level 1 (top-down) to level 2 (platformer)?
Can Minecraft teach team building?
It was October. My Introduction to Computer Science class had been meeting for two months, and we were deep into a discussion about game design. One of my students gestured casually at the student across the room. “That’s right! I was shocked. Minecraft is an online 3D fantasy world where students build structures using digital blocks of glass, sand, brick and other materials. What I really wanted to find out, though, was if this digital collaborative experience would translate to the face-to-face classroom. The Minecraft experience is fun and engaging, but it is also a catalyst for powerful learning. Making the rules I challenged students to build and maintain an entire community and village that would parallel their experience in the face-to-face classroom. Some students argued that if we were to live together, we would need a strong set of rules, consequences for breaking them and some way to enforce those penalties. Ultimately we decided to come up with some basic rules:
GameTrain Learning - Minecraft professional development workshop for teachers
The Minecraft professional development workshop is a four-hour online workshop in which users learn about the educational potential of Minecraft and game-based learning. The sessions are fully interactive with users working in small groups to create a lesson that aligns with Common Core Standards. Please contact us if you are interested in scheduling a workshop. Click on the tabs below to see details about each day of the workshop. Time/Location Two hoursOnline inside Minecraft Agenda Introduction to a Gameful MindsetMinecraft Team ActivityEducational Applications of MinecraftCreate Minecraft Lesson 1. 2. Build Aquarium Work in teams of 2Build for 30 minutesBuild aquarium of specific internal volume = 24 cubic meters (1 block = 1 cubic meter)Blocks – use proportions of exactly 1/2 (any material) and 1/2 glass blocksEveryone views all of the finished aquariumsCore Curriculum Standards for Sample Game 5MD.5a. 3. Video examples Minecraft Maps (walkthroughs) Roman ColosseumTaj MahalEgypt 4. Agenda
A Lesson in Digital Learning from Minecraft | Christine Nasserghodsi
How might today's technology eco-system further meaningful, progressive education? This question was posed by Dr. Mimi Ito during her plenary, The Digital Revolution, at The Future of Learning Institute this past July at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. As Dr. Ito pointed out, most learning technologies reinforce traditional models of instruction. They may seek to teach, but they do little to foster purposeful learning. I resisted Minecraft for as long as I could and caved this summer. Reflecting upon my son's Minecraft experience, I could see how truly multi-dimensional and integrated his learning network was. The answer to the question posed above comes from a triangulation of curating digital resources, enabling and encouraging learners, and re-imagining teaching. I had the privilege of hearing Mark Treadwell, education consultant and author of Learning: How the Brain Learns, coach a group of teachers on enculturating a learning process in the classroom.
Plataforma EAD - o LMS mais completo e intuitivo - Eadbox - Eadbox
The secret of Minecraft — The Message
This wouldn’t be enough on its own. Obscure techniques have been a part of video games from the beginning; Nintendo Power surely had a dusting of secret knowledge. What’s different here is that Minecraft connects this lure to the objective not of beating the game, but making more of the game. “Game” doesn’t even do it justice. What we’re really talking about here is a generative, networked system laced throughout with secrets. Five years in, Minecraft (the system) has bloomed into something bigger and more beautiful than any game studio — whether a tiny one like Markus Persson’s or a huge one like EA — could ever produce on its own. Turns out you can do a lot with those blocks. We’re in a new century now, and its hallmark is networked humans doing things together, mostly on screens, at scales unimaginable in earlier times. In the 2010s and beyond, it is not the case that every cultural product ought to be a generative, networked system. It’s made of blocks, I suppose.
Creating Effective Collaborative Learning Groups in an Online Environment | Brindley
Jane E. Brindley and Christine Walti University of Oldenburg, Germany Lisa M. Blaschke University of Maryland University College, USA Abstract Collaborative learning in an online classroom can take the form of discussion among the whole class or within smaller groups. Keywords: Distance education; open learning; online learning; e-learning; collaborative learning; pedagogy; instructional design; learner motivation Introduction: The Challenge of Creating Effective Study Groups Online courses offer the opportunity to create a highly social learning environment, characterized by participation and interactivity for both students and instructors. Engagement, defined as “student-faculty interaction, peer-to-peer collaboration and active learning...” Development of critical thinking skills, Co-creation of knowledge and meaning, Reflection, Transformative learning. Collaborative Learning and Connectivism Objectives and Research Hypothesis Context and Methodology Findings
How to Make Your Macbook a WiFi Access Point for Minecraft PE | David Lee EdTech
Our Boundaries & Volcano (Minecraft PE) project had been interfered with some inappropriate activity by the students. Students from other classes would join their peers’ Minecraft worlds and destroy their projects. We could have allowed the students to create their volcanos and plate boundaries with Wifi, but that would take away from their ability to research online. 1. 2. 3. Make sure to click on Wi-Fi Options in the bottom corner to create a password for your access point. You are now ready to go! Like this: Like Loading...
