Microsoft has teamed up with RTEJr to launch a new digital skills initiative encouraging students to use Minecraft: Education Edition to help shape Ireland’s sustainable future. The software offers a game-based learning platform to deliver lessons that promote creativity, collaboration and problem-solving.
Series
A series of six weekly lessons will be made available online at rte.ie/learn, with fun challenges linked to the curriculum that teach students how to use Minecraft: Education Edition. The lessons will cover subjects from English and Maths to Science, Geography and more.
In the Classroom
We have been watching the episodes intermittently and using the learning to help shape our weekly classroom lessons. Each Monday we have our ‘Mindcraft Mondays’, this involves the children in pairs completing challenges and tasks based on a theme.
Weeks 1-3 the Theme was ‘A Dream Home’ – the children needed to include elements of sustainability – solar panels, gardens to grow food / farm
Weeks 4-6 the theme was ‘Mars Rover’ – the children had to design and build their own Mars Rover – a space craft designed to explore Space. The children had wonderful ideas such as cameras to record findings, tracks to help with travelling around, levers to assist and add effects to driving the Rover, glass to allow great views while exploring and many more fantastic ideas!
Weeks 7-8 – Free Choice of a Monthly Build Challenge – Some pairs chose to add more to their Dream Home and others chose creating a wonderful Bee Garden!!
We then connected the laptops into the projector and each pair presented the projects that they had worked so hard on. They demonstrated all their wonderful learning and creativity through using Mindcraft: Education Edition in so many ways! Materials and the reason for the choice, book and quill to document learning, signposts to show their location or give more information, various design in style of house to build – on an island, under water, basements, floating houses, tree houses, circular houses – some with security systems of great imagination!!