Do your kids love Minecraft? Why not take advantage of that and use Minecraft to help teach history, science, language arts and more?
There are dozens of wonderful sites on the internet designed to help parents and teachers use Minecraft to teach kids.
Here's some of the best.
Getting Started in Minecraft: From Zero to Punching Wood
Here's the basics on how to buy, install and play Minecraft.
This educator's site is focused on helping teachers use Minecraft in their classrooms. Be sure to check out Teaching with MinecraftEdu for video examples of how one teacher uses Minecraft to teach history, geography, science, math and more.
Note: as of this time, homeschoolers are not eligible for the discounted educator rate on Minecraft through MinecraftEdu.
jokaydia Minecrafts is the newest project within the jokaydian suite of tools, and provides a game-based learning environment for kids. The project has evolved from its beginnings at Massively Minecraft project (established in 2011) and supports a range of Minecraft based initiatives for kids, parents and teachers.
This extensive site is dedicated to "playful learning" and hosts lots of ideas and resources. They also host Massively Minecraft, a free, whitelisted, multiplayer server for kids aged 4-16:
Our project is designed for kids aged 4-16yrs who are interested in gaining digital media skills, exploring their creativity and developing online social skills. We are currently using the video game Minecraft to support a safe, whitelisted server and a range of activities which encourage kids to choose their own playful learning pathways and adventures.
Minecraft Teachers on Google Groups
This is an active discussion board for asking questions and sharing ideas. Read how one teacher's project is going teaching Westward expansion using Minecraft, read suggestions on how to use Minecraft to teach biomes, see two teachers' collaborative project making a Minecraft refugee camp or follow the many threads on problems and error messages, for instance.
This wiki is a storehouse of resources, ideas and fun stuff for a small group of educators using video games with their students.
Currently, our goal is to introduce educators to the video game Minecraft and help them learn how to use the game with their students.
Check out teachers' Minecraft journals, photos, curriculum ideas, group Tumblr boards and lots more.
Teacher Chris Miko's engaging site features a blog of his k-12 projects that are guaranteed to get you excited about the educational possibilities of Minecraft.
For instance, look at this brilliant idea on teaching cells:
On Thursday last week, I heard that the Core 5 students were required to make model of a plant and animal cell, which is a typical project to do when studying cells. Rita, our Core 5 science teacher, gave the students the green light to build their models in Minecraft. That evening, I created the “Cell City” project area in Minecraft. Within 12 hours, cells started popping up in the build area as the Core 5 students immediately began taking advantage of the new project space...
This wiki is devoted to hosting ideas, lessons, implementation strategies and more related to using Minecraft in a school setting.
Ideas for Using Minecraft in the Classroom
Edutopia has some good starter ideas on how to use Minecraft in teaching ratio, reading comprehension, survival and more.
Here's a great resource for unschoolers.
The Unschoolers Creative City is a Minecraft Server specifically for unschoolers around the world.
With over 500 people whitelisted, and new ones everyday, you will definitely find new unschooling friends, and maybe even have real life connections!
UCC was built around the "Modern-day City" theme - with super-high skyscrapers, giant mansions, roads (for a potential transportation system in the future), and much more!
You can also find them on Facebook.
Here's a little more inspiration...
A Port In The Storm: How One Professor Defied The Queensland Floods With Minecraft
This college professor created a Minecraft version of his university with the help of his students and taught them in the virtual classroom.
The recent Queensland floods had a catastrophic impact, but Dr Jeff Brand, a Professor at Bond University refused to take things lying down. When significant flood damage resulted in the closure of his university department and a disruption in his carefully planned curriculum, he decided to think laterally. Jeff Brand decided he was going to teach his class no matter what.
His solution involved avatars. It involved virtual worlds. It involved a little game called you might have heard of. Jeff Brand’s solution was Minecraft.
Minecraft mods and homeschooling
A GeekDad homeschooling dad shared how he uses Minecraft in his homeschool with Minecraft mods:
My sons are both homeschooled. My oldest is both gifted and has Asperger's, so public school was not working. They are both thriving being homeschooled by mom, going through a curriculum that introduces writing and reading through historical studies and literature. They are now studying waterwheel-era factories and as an illustration of the era, we used Minecraft yesterday with the Better than Wolves mod to allow him to replicate a factory. He had to lay out the design, explain what it was used for, and then create it in Minecraft.
Minecraft mods have really opened up the game. We played the 'stock' Minecraft, an open-world sandbox game that allows the creation of worlds through placing of cubes of various materials, since alpha, but at my son's insistence, I learned to install various mods that create new functions. Better than Wolves mod adds waterwheels, axles, windmills and other interesting elements to the Minecraft game that really fit with the lesson...
Educational building blocks: how Minecraft is used in classrooms
Ars Technica shares how one teacher uses Minecraft extensively in his first- and second-grade classroom.
Here's another teacher blog to get you excited about the fun possibilities with Minecraft...
Last week, I met with Sammy Y and the guinea pigs again for another session of Science Through Minecraft. Being our second time together, we were all a little less guinea piggy. We thus moved on to sheep genetics...
Some resourceful teachers are even using 3-D printers to make real replicas of educational concepts like DNA from their students' Minecraft projects.
Also check out EduRealms, which focuses on combining gaming and education in general, and the Minecraft forums for general inspiration.
If you know of any other great Minecraft resources, please add them in the comments.
Have fun!
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