This week I had several huge “aha!” moments. I don’t want to single one out as the biggest but the one that spoke to me the most was this video posted on youtube about the purpose of Minecraft. When I first started playing I was expecting something similar to Super Mario Bros, in that you have a character that follows a linear level. There are points to gain, obstacles to overcome and a somewhat easy to see end task to reach in order to reach the next level. With Minecraft I walked around the world I created literally wandering around. I heard sounds, it got dark but I didn’t really get it. During one of my first experiences I accidently “mined” my way into a hole that I didn’t know how to get out of. I was losing interest quickly! I especially couldn’t understand its point after seeing how Minecraft has exploded to an insane level of popularity that it is now. Surely I was missing something! I was. The author in the above linked video shared that Minecraft is what you make it. There really is no one set specific goal but instead it is driven behind the purpose you give it. My first reaction is no...really….what's the point, there has to be more to it than that? That is when he went on to explain two of the three major modes that you can choose when you first create your world: survival or creative. He didn’t explain “hardcore” but its name alone lets me know I am not quite ready for that yet. In Creative, you are free to create what you want. You have an endless supply of tools, and you don’t need to worry about surviving. I read somewhere that this is like a digital Legos- all the benefits of Lego building without having to worry about stepping on the pieces! This is where we have been playing the most. I appreciate it that it allows you to build and create without the threat of dying. My first sunset! After spending a couple of days building in creative I thought it was time to jump over to survival mode. I had more of an understanding of what was needed to do and wanted to mix it up a bit. I started my first day with barely gathering flowers and nearly being killed by a rabbit. Things were not looking so good. I appreciated the view for a bit but knew I had to pick it up if was going to survive. Curious about what others suggested to do on the first day, I googled- “first day suggestions in Minecraft” and came up with this…. Are you kidding me? Wow-things just got real. A play by play of what you should do minute by minute! I was wondering how to make a bed and there it tells me! I need to kill sheep in order to make wool that then turns into bed. Since I didn’t get too far into my new survival world I decided to start a new world, with the tutorial goals in mind. From my post from last week I shared that I would be revealing an issue that came up. Before I started the project one of my inquiry questions was- "5. Will my other daughter feel left out? Will she want to join in as well? It only took a matter of 30 minutes before she wanted to join as well. Learning is contagious when others around you are discussing a similar topic! Here is a short video of her jumping right in! I think as adults we need to remember how quickly children are willing to take risks even when they don’t quite know what they are doing. J's mermaid. She said "she is just a statue sitting on a rock." I can say now I get it! I get what the attraction of Minecraft is! The music is so soothing and relaxing, and allows you to "check out" for a bit. I am excited to continue in my survival world and learn more about--surviving! My learning for this week has also pushed me into looking at how Minecraft is being used in education. It was not one of my original questions but now that I understand how Minecraft is played I am curious to see how teachers are using the program. This next week I will be exploring that more!
2 Comments
Andrea Jacobs
7/13/2015 07:08:31 am
My principal has asked myself and another teacher to pilot using Minecraft in our classrooms next year. I love reading about what you're experiencing because I need to know how I can use it. My fifth graders were lucky enough to have an entire day of Minecraft last year and they built a city together using perimeter, area and volume. Other than that I'm not sure how many content standards will be addressed using Minecraft, but the fact that students get to collectively build a city together is critical thinking and problem solving at its best! Thanks for sharing all your learning. You said at the end of your reflection that you want to learn how to include Minecraft into education, I can't wait to see what you find out!
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Kelly thank you for your post! I had no clue what Minecraft was before reading this, and I've always hear people talking about it. It's interesting to see how you turned 180 on this game. I'm pretty sure I would have been the same, but I think it's the same with learning anything else. When you don't get the insights and the "contagious" energy from everyone else, you just aren't motivated. I love a lot of the books I read because of the studying that went along with some of them, it just forces you to jump into the subject with more focus. It looks like this is what happened to you and your daughter jumping on board along side you.
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