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Looking for Guidance and Suggestions on How to Use Minecraft Education in the History Curriculum

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2 comments

  • Danny Support
    Beacon of Knowledge Bug Zapper Support

    Hey there! 

    Thanks for your interest in Minecraft Education! 

    Let's see if I can clear some things up for you :) 

    I have the following specific inquiries and worries:

    Getting Started: Yes! Teacher's Academy is great for learning an overall well-rounded understanding of the game. Minecraft Education: Teacher Academy - Training | Microsoft Learn Otherwise, just dive right in! There are plenty of training type worlds in Minecraft Education built in. I would suggest start digging around and seeing what interests you and learn by playing. 

    Lesson Ideas: Yes! There are plenty of History worlds that you can download and play in Minecraft Education.

    Minecraft History & Culture Kit | Minecraft Education

    Classroom Administration: A combination of Classroom Mode, and third party programs that can view the screen's of your students should be what you are after. Install & Use Classroom Mode for Minecraft | Minecraft Education . The students will be stimulated by simply using the Minecraft Education tool. The wisdom will come from taking time to curate the lesson and make sure the point you are trying to get across comes across within the Minecraft Education.

    Technical Requirements: It will be good to make sure the devices you plan to use meet our minimum system requirements - System Requirements – Minecraft Education. I would use the "Recommended" section over the "Required" section as a guideline while choosing your hosting device if you plan to do multiplayer.

    Evaluation: I recommend using the Book and Quill that is built into Minecraft Education! :) You can have them submit assignments and write them directly within Minecraft Education. Here is more information on the tool. 

    Microsoft Word - Book and Quill.docx (minecraft.net)

    It is a cool feeling as a student to be able to submit and write the assignment within the game, then throw the assignment / completed book to the teacher all within Minecraft Education to evaluate for grading. 

     

    Hope that all helps!

     

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  • Dani Noble
    Moderator Beacon of Knowledge Super Star

    Hi Joy Nicholes

    Danny has covered pretty much everything I was going to add, but I have a few other points that might be helpful: 

    Getting Started: Join the Facebook Minecraft Education Teacher's Lounge group. This is now the main connection point for educators using Minecraft, and it's a great, helpful international community of all experience levels. You'll find it very welcoming, and people are very helpful with sharing tips, tricks and experiences. 

    I'd also recommend coming up with a class charter of expected behaviors while working in Minecraft, particularly when it applies to group builds. Things like: "no griefing", "be kind, helpful and considerate" are usually at the top of my list. I find students will be better behaved if they have a hand in creating this charter. 

    I'd also suggest surveying your class for experience level with Minecraft. This helps identify your "helpers" who know how the game works, and can jump in to assist on some of the finer details of the game. It also provides an leadership opportunities to students!

    One last note here, the How to play tutorial worlds in the in-game library are really helpful for getting a handle on the basics. You can find them under Library>How to Play.

    Lesson Ideas: Not all areas of history are covered (but, it's being added to all the time), so often I create a lesson as I normally would, give the students time to research and then construct their builds in Minecraft, as opposed to say doing so in traditional media. NPCs, boards, posters, slates, books & quill are great for writing within their builds, demonstrating the knowledge about the topic, and explaining their builds (I'll talk about assessment in a moment). The How to play tutorials are great for explaining these elements further. 

    Classroom Administration: Typically I don't use Classroom mode, or third party apps to watch students work. I prefer to monitor the class during build times more traditionally by checking in and seeing how things are going. 

    Technical Requirements: The most common complaint is that multiplayer isn't working. Make sure that all Minecraft Education URLs are on your districts allow list, and that all devices are on the same version (current is 1.21.05). Additionally, make sure your devices are rebooted once and a while. Many never get turned off, and a quick reboot can often fix things. 

    Evaluation: I find this depends on your comfort level with the game. If you're comfortable playing Minecraft, moving around and interacting, you can have students export and share their worlds with you (I have some video tutorials on my YouTube channel on how to do that with various devices). If you're not quite their yet, I recommend having the students do a live presentation of their world, submit a recorded video presentation, or even an essay with screenshots. 

    Hope this helps! 

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