Minecraft game gives a new tool to teachers
her classes use the game and their personal laptops and iPads to re-create scenes from “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” to accompany a writing assignment. That project was a big hit with the students and district administrators, she said.
“The students were all on task; they weren’t talking; they were working out problems,” Ms. Hobbs said. “They had fun and they were engaged. They love Minecraft.”
She expanded on that project and developed lessons to use in Montour’s STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) education summer camps. Ms. Hobbs and one of Montour’s STEAM teachers, Amanda McDermott, helped develop engineering lesson plans that are available on the Minecraft: Education Edition website for other teachers anywhere to use.
“Basically, our hypothesis is if we help teachers connect with one another and help them connect with the resources other teachers are creating, we’re spurring this community of educators who are leading on how to use technology in the classroom,” said Meenoo Rami, a Redmond, Wash.-based manager on the Minecraft: Education Edition team.
Part of her job is to work with Minecraft’s global ambassadors, including Ms. Hobbs, to share their ideas and create new content and lessons for schools all over the world. More than 40 school districts across Pennsylvania purchased the game for their classrooms, according to Microsoft.
Teachers all over the globe are able to submit lesson plans using the game directly to the Minecraft team, which then vets the plans for quality before sharing them with the rest of the Minecraft education community.
Ms. Rami, who taught high school English for 10 years in Philadelphia, said the game not only works as a companion tool for teachers in a variety of subjects, it also helps students develop their “soft skills,” like creativity and problem-solving.
“Good teaching doesn’t go away; the content doesn’t go away,” she said about adopting Minecraft for the classroom. “It’s just basically meeting the students where they are. Why not take their passion for Minecraft and turn it into a rich opportunity for learning?”