I'm entertaining teaching a game co-op class for middle schoolers. This would not include Java programming, as that would be a much greater in-depth and mature class. It would include client/server setup/utilities, building, custom map design, making skins, adventure ideas, and more.
What are your thoughts?
Is this too light for present day middle schoolers?
It sounds like a great idea to me, my main issue is whether this is something that would be allowed, given that some countries have complex legislature around this sort of thing. However, legalities aside, I have several queries/comments.
When you say 'game co-op class' what is it that you actually mean? A class on how to co-operate within gaming environment, a class on computing (such as the mentioned client/sever setup) that is put into the context of gaming? If it is more computing based then I think that it is a good idea to talk about custom maps as you can easily set out the principles of game design in terms that middle-schoolers understand but without being too vague either.
With regards to lightness, I don't think that it is too light. Children and teenagers are being introduced to technology such as this earlier and earlier, but it is mostly accepted as something that is just there without being questioned as to why. Hence, it is likely that they will have knowledge of the subject area but still will not know the finer points of it, or how the process of game design takes place.
A small problem might be finance as in order for a class of, for example, 25 to have full access to Minecraft (such as may be needed in order to demonstrate fully) it would cost $373.75. Perhaps you could negotiate with Mojang themselves to lower this cost, but still a large sum of money. That being said, much of the basics of Minecraft is available in Creative mode which is of course completely free, but at least one or two full accounts would need to be set up for demonstration purposes alone.
Other suggestions that I have are that you talk about how a game such as Minecraft achieves the popularity that it has (through word-of-mouth, simple design etc.), you could also perhaps get the class to do comparisons of Minecraft with other popular web-based games (Runescape, Farmville) and why each game excels and the advantages and disadvantages of each game. Similarly you could discuss how console games and PC/web-based games differ in their styles.
I hope that you find this useful, and I wish you good luck should you decide to proceed with this idea.
We homeschool our kids and they were doing a Vikings unit study, so I taught my 7-year old daughter how to play Minecraft and we built a replica Viking longhouse - she loved it! Next minecraft project will be building a castle when they are doing the medieval age.
For older kids you could incorporate a blueprints/architecture lesson into it - have them design a building on graph paper and then build it in the game!
I recently started a games club at my school, MC being an obvious desire for many kids. It's not the same thing as a homeschool but it has gone down a treat even amongst staff. There was an expected level of skeptisism at first but when some of the naughtiest kids not only stayed behind after school, but behaved during the day so that they could come, and then sat down and began playing, with none of the fuss usually associated with them..brilliant!
Part of what makes MC and the other games I chose is purely the creativity, and project based learning. Take trackmania for example, good racing game, networked etc, but also has a track designer in it. They adore that, a group sat down with some pens and drew a rough outline, then they made it. in that hour I taught them about iterations, design techniques, ideas about the level of difficulty and why you shouldn't always strain the player to the max etc.
Some drew towns which they went about making..etc etc. Most of these kids have bad ADHD and have trouble sitting down for more than 20mins before they get agitated. It's working wonders. Not just for getting some kids into an after school activity but showing them how a bit of planning goes a long way and makes life easier. That's an actual life skill right there!
I think the trick is not to go for a directly educational apporach but to try to induce learning through a good atmosphere and helping the kids want to learn. You know, like a little wall building demo I did, with the 3 main ways of quickly building (run back, jump and build, 2 layer quick click) where they paid attention, saw that is was actually useful to them, and therefore good to pay attention. So many teachers miss the part where they have to engage and relate.
Different situation as said, but if you need some help convincing others that gaming have a great positive effect on people, maybe it will help.
Our internet cafe has been offering free Minecraft workshops for middle school-aged children through the January holidays. The recommendations I'd make is turn off PvP (stops them from spending the first hour punching each other) and to find a good server mod for locking chests. We were using hey0 & chastity chest, but I haven't had a chance to find a Bukkit equivalent yet - I'd be surprised if there wasn't one though.
When we hold the workshop again I'll add more structure next time. This workshop we added a map with a semi-destroyed village, and asked participants to rebuild it - with varying success. Encouraging the use of materials other than dirt and cobblestone proved to be difficult!
We averaged about 12 participants, and it was 4 hours in length (with breaks, but most worked right through). There were 4 workshops in total, running Saturday afternoons.
I created a 'first day checklist' for them to complete eg punch trees, collect 10 logs, convert to planks... make tools etc. This worked pretty well, and in future I'd probably create a 2nd day checklist too and so on. Ideally I would've liked to reward a completed checklist with a selection of building materials, but I didn't get time to find a way to implement this unfortunately. As a result we got a fair share of cobblestone boxes with little variety in materials.
Having a structured series of steps did work well rather than leaving them to their own devices - they tend to wander around in the dark trying to punch creepers otherwise. Actually next time I'd even consider turning off monsters, at least for the first couple of nights anyway.
The 'rebuild the village' plan I had wasn't a real great success - it ended up being 'pillage the village for interesting blocks & then build my own thing over here...' It was more of a suggestion rather than a stated and enforced goal though, so maybe that would be something I could be stricter on next time. Overall it was still a lot of fun, the parents were very supportive and interested, and we've had a lot of enquiries about when we are holding the next one.
I think there's a lot of mileage you could make out of educational Minecraft
Just a follow up on our Minecraft workshops - this is our final 'wrap' Youtube video of some of the workshop creations. I kept the server world across the 4 workshops so repeat participants could keep adding to their work. It was a real learning process for all involved, including us, but overall lots of fun and definitely worth repeating.
Since running the workshops we've stumbled across the 'Survival Island' style of gamemode, and I think the set series of achievements typical in this gamemode would really suit a workshop environment. I'm planning on designing a multi-island style of map suitable for multiplayer, with an in-game achievement list, hidden treasure and traps for our next series of workshops. Should be fun (and educational :wink.gif: )!
We homeschool our kids and they were doing a Vikings unit study, so I taught my 7-year old daughter how to play Minecraft and we built a replica Viking longhouse - she loved it! Next minecraft project will be building a castle when they are doing the medieval age.
For older kids you could incorporate a blueprints/architecture lesson into it - have them design a building on graph paper and then build it in the game!
As long as you stress the fact that they're weren't really made out of blocks. :biggrin.gif: :biggrin.gif:
I think Minecraft has a tremendous potential in the classroom and am seriously considering starting a program up at one of the schools in the district where I work. Last year, we started a project using World of Warcraft (http://wowinschool.pbworks.com) and it has been hugely successful. Minecraft would be a great tool, especially in the upper early and middle grades. I just created a blog post (http://edurealms.com/?p=304) on the topic and welcome additional ideas that any in this community may have.
-Lucas Gillispie, Instructional Technology Coordinator, Pender County Schools
There are so many gamer/educators out there with cool ideas. To facilitate this, I put together a wiki http://minecraftinschool.pbworks.com. In the district where I work, I'll be launching a test project with Minecraft beginning April 8th. We'll be working with 20 5th graders, 10 at one school and 10 at a school on the other side of the county. We're hosting our server internally. I'll be documenting the process on the wiki and if any of you have lesson ideas, I invite you to share.
Since we're largely in a test phase for the remainder of the school year, we're taking a very open-ended approach. The story is that each of the students was part of a research vessel that crashed and now they must reconstruct a functional civilization in this new and strange land. Shortly into the project, I'll be introducing them to the wiki (particularly the recipe page). The instructional goals will be to encourage critical thinking and problem solving, spatial reasoning, collaboration and teamwork. In-character journaling will likely be a component as well.
Other ideas include using the X, Y, Z coordinate system (part of the 5th grade curriculum) and having them building more complex models (basic circuits, machines, etc.).
Gamers are the smartest people in the world!! Share your ideas!
I am a middle-schooler, and at our school we do a MAKE unit (see MAKE magazine) at the end of the year to make any project we want, but it has to serve a purpose (I.E. what I did last year, a laser light show for entertainment). I really like minecraft, and would love to do something for this unit in minecraft, but I'm out of ideas.
Ideas? PM or reply to this post before May 15th please.
I'm entertaining teaching a game co-op class for middle schoolers. This would not include Java programming, as that would be a much greater in-depth and mature class. It would include client/server setup/utilities, building, custom map design, making skins, adventure ideas, and more.
What are your thoughts?
Is this too light for present day middle schoolers?
What else should be included?
JWSJ
JWSJ
I frowned when I saw how many errors I get when decompiling minecraft.
When you say 'game co-op class' what is it that you actually mean? A class on how to co-operate within gaming environment, a class on computing (such as the mentioned client/sever setup) that is put into the context of gaming? If it is more computing based then I think that it is a good idea to talk about custom maps as you can easily set out the principles of game design in terms that middle-schoolers understand but without being too vague either.
With regards to lightness, I don't think that it is too light. Children and teenagers are being introduced to technology such as this earlier and earlier, but it is mostly accepted as something that is just there without being questioned as to why. Hence, it is likely that they will have knowledge of the subject area but still will not know the finer points of it, or how the process of game design takes place.
A small problem might be finance as in order for a class of, for example, 25 to have full access to Minecraft (such as may be needed in order to demonstrate fully) it would cost $373.75. Perhaps you could negotiate with Mojang themselves to lower this cost, but still a large sum of money. That being said, much of the basics of Minecraft is available in Creative mode which is of course completely free, but at least one or two full accounts would need to be set up for demonstration purposes alone.
Other suggestions that I have are that you talk about how a game such as Minecraft achieves the popularity that it has (through word-of-mouth, simple design etc.), you could also perhaps get the class to do comparisons of Minecraft with other popular web-based games (Runescape, Farmville) and why each game excels and the advantages and disadvantages of each game. Similarly you could discuss how console games and PC/web-based games differ in their styles.
I hope that you find this useful, and I wish you good luck should you decide to proceed with this idea.
Currently, there is nothing illegal about teaching Minecraft or middle schoolers here. :smile.gif:
I wouldn't have thought to question that.
It's a small homeschool co-op, as in I teach a class and another parent teaches a different class, etc.
I'll include your suggestions.
JWSJ
JWSJ
We homeschool our kids and they were doing a Vikings unit study, so I taught my 7-year old daughter how to play Minecraft and we built a replica Viking longhouse - she loved it! Next minecraft project will be building a castle when they are doing the medieval age.
For older kids you could incorporate a blueprints/architecture lesson into it - have them design a building on graph paper and then build it in the game!
Part of what makes MC and the other games I chose is purely the creativity, and project based learning. Take trackmania for example, good racing game, networked etc, but also has a track designer in it. They adore that, a group sat down with some pens and drew a rough outline, then they made it. in that hour I taught them about iterations, design techniques, ideas about the level of difficulty and why you shouldn't always strain the player to the max etc.
Some drew towns which they went about making..etc etc. Most of these kids have bad ADHD and have trouble sitting down for more than 20mins before they get agitated. It's working wonders. Not just for getting some kids into an after school activity but showing them how a bit of planning goes a long way and makes life easier. That's an actual life skill right there!
I think the trick is not to go for a directly educational apporach but to try to induce learning through a good atmosphere and helping the kids want to learn. You know, like a little wall building demo I did, with the 3 main ways of quickly building (run back, jump and build, 2 layer quick click) where they paid attention, saw that is was actually useful to them, and therefore good to pay attention. So many teachers miss the part where they have to engage and relate.
Different situation as said, but if you need some help convincing others that gaming have a great positive effect on people, maybe it will help.
I can offer some free map and save-file hosting, just PM me! 1GB/Unlimited Bandwidth/FTP Access. More on request!
The game definitely puts kids in an environment they enjoy to learn in. And, there is so much to learn.
JWSJ
JWSJ
When we hold the workshop again I'll add more structure next time. This workshop we added a map with a semi-destroyed village, and asked participants to rebuild it - with varying success. Encouraging the use of materials other than dirt and cobblestone proved to be difficult!
How many students were in each workshop?
How long were the sessions?
J
JWSJ
We averaged about 12 participants, and it was 4 hours in length (with breaks, but most worked right through). There were 4 workshops in total, running Saturday afternoons.
I created a 'first day checklist' for them to complete eg punch trees, collect 10 logs, convert to planks... make tools etc. This worked pretty well, and in future I'd probably create a 2nd day checklist too and so on. Ideally I would've liked to reward a completed checklist with a selection of building materials, but I didn't get time to find a way to implement this unfortunately. As a result we got a fair share of cobblestone boxes with little variety in materials.
Having a structured series of steps did work well rather than leaving them to their own devices - they tend to wander around in the dark trying to punch creepers otherwise. Actually next time I'd even consider turning off monsters, at least for the first couple of nights anyway.
The 'rebuild the village' plan I had wasn't a real great success - it ended up being 'pillage the village for interesting blocks & then build my own thing over here...' It was more of a suggestion rather than a stated and enforced goal though, so maybe that would be something I could be stricter on next time. Overall it was still a lot of fun, the parents were very supportive and interested, and we've had a lot of enquiries about when we are holding the next one.
I think there's a lot of mileage you could make out of educational Minecraft
Just a follow up on our Minecraft workshops - this is our final 'wrap' Youtube video of some of the workshop creations. I kept the server world across the 4 workshops so repeat participants could keep adding to their work. It was a real learning process for all involved, including us, but overall lots of fun and definitely worth repeating.
Since running the workshops we've stumbled across the 'Survival Island' style of gamemode, and I think the set series of achievements typical in this gamemode would really suit a workshop environment. I'm planning on designing a multi-island style of map suitable for multiplayer, with an in-game achievement list, hidden treasure and traps for our next series of workshops. Should be fun (and educational :wink.gif: )!
As long as you stress the fact that they're weren't really made out of blocks. :biggrin.gif: :biggrin.gif:
I make Music
http://www.youtube.com/user/AudioLowOfficial
-Lucas Gillispie, Instructional Technology Coordinator, Pender County Schools
Since we're largely in a test phase for the remainder of the school year, we're taking a very open-ended approach. The story is that each of the students was part of a research vessel that crashed and now they must reconstruct a functional civilization in this new and strange land. Shortly into the project, I'll be introducing them to the wiki (particularly the recipe page). The instructional goals will be to encourage critical thinking and problem solving, spatial reasoning, collaboration and teamwork. In-character journaling will likely be a component as well.
Other ideas include using the X, Y, Z coordinate system (part of the 5th grade curriculum) and having them building more complex models (basic circuits, machines, etc.).
Gamers are the smartest people in the world!! Share your ideas!
-Lucas
Ideas? PM or reply to this post before May 15th please.
could use some ideas pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee