At the end of last year, I put together a draft document to pull together some ideas for using Minecraft to teach geography (and other subjects potentially)
This was shared on Google Drive with a few people who were kind enough to add some feedback.
In the last few months, there has continued to be a lot of interest in the use of Minecraft, and I have mentioned it a few events too.
I've decided to share this document now.... It's by no means completed, and I would appreciate your thoughts on how it might develop. I'd be delighted to hear of more useful: - twitter accounts - projects - documents - ideas that relate to Geography and Minecraft
You can contact me via Twitter or e-mail - my ABOUT ME page has the relevant links. Alternatively add a comment to this blog post and that will come through to me for moderation. Thanks in advance.
If not, then you've probably never heard of MINECRAFT: a game that has millions of players worldwide and is finding its way into lots of schools too.
My son LOVES Minecraft and has produced some amazing creations on the Pocket Edition that we have on the two tablets in the house. He and his sister play together in a creative world they have generated.
When I upgrade my computer in the New Year, we will put the full version on, and really start to explore the Minecraft Universe.
Recently, after a Twitter exchange with Claire Rafferty in Australia, I created a Google Doc and started to put together a summary document which could form the basis for Geography teachers to start to think about how they could use Minecraft in the Geography classroom... and also explore where it was being used in other parts of the curriculum, and also as an extra-curricular activity.
I discovered Stephen Reid, who I'd quoted in the document was interested in the project, and he was happy to get involved too. He runs a free Minecraft project for schools to get involved with the game. Check it out.
Finally, there seems to be a movie of the creation of Minecraft that has been produced, and the trailer can be seen here - my son will be interested in this:
I'll open the document up to scrutiny and publish it in various places in the New Year so that I can work on it over the Christmas period Get in touch if you have something you want to contribute...
My son has spent a lot of time this summer getting to grips with the pocket edition of Minecraft. He doesn't usually play the Survival Mode of the game, where you have to defend yourself against zombies or other attackers.
He concentrates on the Creation mode of the game, where you place blocks and other elements to construct buildings, landscapes and other features...
Interestingly, a week or so ago while moderating the Secondary Geography Quality Mark entries, we had an amazing video made by a student at a school in Hong Kong included as part of the evidence, where he used Minecraft to explain the different phases of a river as it developed. It was an awesome piece of work!
I've started to explore some other possible uses of Minecraft for Geography. Does anyone use it in the classroom ?
I followed @jokay on Twitter. He was involved in a Minecraft Teachmeet that the great Derek Robertson organised. He is also involved in the Massively Minecraft WIKI.
My son says that he particularly likes Minecraft because 'you can make anything you want...'. He made an Olympic Stadium and other buildings such as a fish and chip shop.
The Minecraft WIKI offers a range of resources.
It seems that players often tend to focus on one particular aspect of the game, as my son is doing.
A story that interested the Year 7 boys in my form today...
