Learning with Minecraft Education Edition

Let's make learning fun with Minecraft Education Edition! My name is Ms. Astrid and I am a certified Minecraft Educator. Using the Minecraft Education platform I will be using game-based learning to guide students through 6 weeks of exciting lesson plans. For each class we will log into the live Zoom meeting and then join a private server to play together in Minecraft. 

Here is our 6-week schedule:

Week 1: History and Culture - Explore Ancient Egypt! Students will navigate a custom-built server of Ancient Egypt to learn about its fascinating geography, advanced economy, governing structure, iconic architecture, and unique culture. Creative free build challenge: design a structure with an NPC that teaches us something about Egypt. Optional homework offline: write your name in Egyptian hieroglyphics and share it in the classroom (bonus if you create it in Minecraft with blocks!)

Week 2: Extinction Crisis! (Science: Biodiversity and Conservation). Learn about the value, threats, sustainable management of biodiversity before building an Orangutan reserve to benefit the people, profit and planet. Students will enter a custom-build world and have time to free-build and restore an orangutan preserve. Homework: import our shared world file and finish your build independently, then share pictures or a video in the classroom.

Week 3: Art & Design - Recreate an important or iconic scene from a story or movie you like. Design the set and characters, then present to the class. This is a great challenge for students who like creative builds. 

Week 4: Language Arts: 6-Room Poem Workshop. Explore a maze in Minecraft while writing a descriptive poem using our book & quill option in-game. Homework: find a poem you like and share it with the classroom.

Week 5: E-Sports Creative Clash - Busy Bees! Play a fun interactive collaborative game where we become bees collecting nectar. Learn about bees and play as teams to see who fills up the honey pot first!

Week 6: An Hour of Code: Timecraft. Experience a choose-your-own-adventure game with beginner coding skills. No prior coding experience necessary!

At the end of the 6-week course your learner will earn a certificate of completion, logging the hours spent in class and completing any external (optional) projects/homework. This is great for homeschooling families who are required to report hours for homeschooling credit and/or portfolios! 

***TECH REQUIREMENTS***
Minecraft Education Edition is free to download here: https://education.minecraft.net/en-us/get-started/download

Available platforms: PC/Mac, Chromebook, Android, iPhone, iPad. If using a PC it is preferable to use a mouse rather than touchpad, but either way will work. You can use the same device to log into the Outschool meeting plus play, but you might need to run some tests to ensure that your device has sufficient memory/RAM to run both Zoom and Minecraft simultaneously.  

After downloading Minecraft, please note that you are not required to sign up for the free trial or pay for a subscription. Upon enrollment in this class your learner will be assigned a custom license to use during our classes. The day prior to our first class your learner will be given a custom login and password, which can also be used to play Minecraft independently between our live sessions as well. If you are enrolling early and would like to test Minecraft on your own beforehand, feel free to sign up for the free trial that Microsoft offers. When it’s time for class your learner will sign into the class account. 

***Learner Expectations***

We are here to have fun and play! Ms. Astrid will remind learners of our classroom expectations at the beginning of every class: 

* If you didn’t make it, DON’T break it! We promise not to destroy someone else’s build without permission. This also applies to mobs, animals and entities.
* Let’s take turns talking and try not to interrupt or talk over each other. We will work together to create a fun learning environment. 
* Many of the usual Minecraft features and settings will be disabled in class in order to help us all to focus on the lesson. This might also apply to the Zoom meeting controls as well, including the mute button, chat, renaming and waiting room feature.