Hi
Warren
Greg
gets emails about Bubbledome courses, and the latest one had a link to an
interesting article (below)about a teacher who used the game Minecraft (a huge
favourite with my boys and lots of their friends) as part of a school project.
I thought you might find it interesting.
I
assume you have seen Minecraft? Must admit, of all the games for my boys
to be obsessed with it's really good. Lots to learn and create with it, and Greg seems to get quite a bit out of it socially
too, interacting with new people.
Kind
regards,
Barbara
It seems to me that Minecraft is a digital wave that we can
either manage and use to get the greatest good or try and fight off because of
its addictive lure for children.
The magazine Interface is possibly the leading NZ journal for
teachers supporting the use of ICT in learning. Certainly our staff all get to
read this magazine. In a relatively recent publication of Interface, the
cover story headline was ‘Going Mad for Minecraft—Should you be using this
simple building game in your classroom?’ (Issue 50 Term 3 Sept. 2013)
The short story is it is being used extensively in and out of
classrooms (40 million users at last count) and it lends itself to a variety of
learning uses engaging all aspects of the curriculum. Over and above inputs
into maths or other subject areas, Minecraft fosters creativity and
problem solving. “The mere mention of the word (minecraft) will have your
students babbling on happily about redstone and spawn points, mobs and mods, skins……..
But here’s the thing. Before you know it, they will be sitting up straight,
paying attention and working their butts off.” (p24 Interface (Issue
50 Term 3 Sept. 2013) Use the link
As a Principal I am incredibly aware of the need for balance in
children’s lives. We love the outdoors and promote ‘mindfulness’, nature and
getting enjoyment from the simple things in life. However we also see the
tremendous opportunities and skill building the tools of e Learning provide.
The 21stC student leaving school any time soon will need an array of skills
such as creativity, problem solving, entrepreneurship and teamwork. The work
force is screaming for people with strong IT skills supported by these skills
just listed.
The big challenge for us as teachers and for parents is setting
the scene to ensure young people are getting ‘balance’ in their lives. Part of
this challenge is educating children in the art of self-discipline but until
that ‘kicks in’ so individuals are ‘self-aware’ and autonomous, then we as
adults have to take an active managing role. At times that will mean ‘tough
love’, rules and consequences.
We recommend you find out as much about your child’s world so
they see you have some sort of understanding of the benefits of things like
‘Minecraft’. In that way at least they can see you are informed and not just
‘bagging’ their passion out of ignorance. Give them adequate screen time but
insist on down time, fresh air and contributing to the household team effort.
I came across the below site: Children On-Line---Devoted
to the safety of children and teens online. (see what you think)
“Is Minecraft the Next Parental Concern? Have you heard about
Minecraft? It is very likely that your children have even though the full PC
version of the game only came out in late 2011 and the Xbox version came out
this past May. The game has skyrocketed in popularity with
children from ages seven to young teens. Minecraft is a creative video game in
which participants build things out of textured cubes in a 3D-like world. There are several versions and types of game play and to quote
Wikipedia, the primary goal of play in survival mode is "to build a
shelter to survive attacks by hostile mobs…….read on via the link.
All of the above is a bit of ‘rave’ and not particularly well
structured but hopefully it may be of some use.
Warren
