Minecraft can be used as an educational forum for more than just IT class.
Can the computer game Minecraft be educational? You bet it can!
Our Intro to Foods teacher Mary Nescot wondered if there was a fun, interactive way to teach a lesson on Healthy Eating. Enter IT class. When Lew Cappelli heard that the Foods class wanted a more engaging lesson plan for students to learn about “farm to table,” the two teachers collaborated and decided to have the IT students teach the Intro to Foods students how to use the educational version of Minecraft to build farms.
Minecraft is a game that is a learning environment that is based on the geometry of blocks. You learn how to make and change blocks into other things, such as wood, so you can build things such as houses and farms. The lesson objective was to have each Foods student learn how to build a rudimentary farm and plant at least one crop.
IT seniors taught the Foods students the basics of Minecraft from finding it and logging in, to entering a “world” to begin to create things. IT students were patient with those students who had never played Minecraft before and actually demonstrated they are great teachers, which is a valuable skill for future IT technicians to have so they can teach non-techies how to be comfortable in a computer learning environment.
The Foods students caught on quickly and before we knew it, everyone was having a great time. What a great lesson based on team work, inter-class sharing and getting to know students from other classes.
Foods students quickly realize how easy it is to build their own farm.
IT student teaches Foods Teacher and TA how to move around in the Minecraft world.
It student pairs up with Foods student for fun lesson.
