MinecraftEdu Day - Puzzling Pyramids and Terrible Temples

A few months ago the boss asked me if I would run a 'Gifted and Talented' Minecraft day for our family of schools and I jumped at the chance.  The big day finally arrived on Friday when myself and four year 5/6 children were joined by 14 very excited children from three local schools accompanied by their teachers.

I've been a huge Minecraft fan for a few years now.  It all began when my son started playing the game and asked me if I would like to have a go.  I'll be honest, I was initially reticent, wondering what the point of the game was and admit to thinking I probably wouldn't like it.  I don't think I could have been more wrong and many game playing hours later was busy buying my own account and looking into setting up a server.  I now have two servers, one where my son and I are slowly creating a fairly sprawling city and another that my son hosts for himself and his friends to come together and play and chat.

At the beginning of this school year I attended a fantastic day about using Minecraft in educational settings.  It's something I knew was happening around the world and I had already looked in to a modded version of Minecraft called MinecraftEdu and begun a little research into how other educators were using it.  I came away even more convinced of the educational and motivational potentialof the hugely popular (over 1 billion people have bought the game so far) sand box game.  A quick chat with the Headteacher later and I was setting up a seriously oversubscribed after school club and beginning to discuss with teachers how it could enhance lessons.

Is Minecraft the Ultimate Educational Tool?

(More on Jane McGonigal's inspirational book Reality is Broken next time.)

So, back to Friday... I was nervous.  I knew that a couple of the teachers coming were interested in using Minecraft in their own schools and I was desperate to show off the many benefits I know it offers.  Add to that the usual technical worries and I was a verging on a trembling wreck the night before!  The children's task was to create an adventure map (think the opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark) while learning about electrical circuits, 3D co-ordinates, basic programming commands, teamwork, creating an interesting and engaging storyline and working to a tight deadline.  The morning was spent following along as we built a redstone trap and a maze that teleported you back to the start if you took a wrong turn and then there was some time for planning on paper.

From paper to screen

Initial Planning

Once the planning stage was over the children were let loose in their groups, I literally had to force them out for a run around at lunch time they were so keen to keep working, talk about total engagement!  I was blown away by the way they worked together, they shared out the work between them and communicated continually to ensure they finished their work by the deadline I had given them.  Not only did they manage to finish on time but their creations were imaginative, interesting and filled with intrigue just as I had asked.  The children had a wonderfully enjoyable day, as did I, and they left armed with a list of educational reasons why Minecraft should be used at their schools.

Some of the finished work - well above my expectations!