⁠— Day 1 - Set Up and The Beginnings: Our primary goal for this day is to assist students in setting up Minecraft and to familiarize kids with our course’s objectives. We will introduce the Roman Empire to students. They will discover the story of Julius Caesar and participate in a Roman Government activity.

⁠— Day 2 - Roman Government: Students will familiarize themselves with the Roman government after Augustus Caesar took it over. They will also discover other powerful political figures in Rome and build housing in Minecraft suitable for an Emperor!

⁠— Day 3 - Roman Technological Advancements: Students will discover the many technological advances in Rome. From the aqueduct to the colosseum, students will get an inside look at some of these builds before creating one themselves. 

⁠— Day 4 - Everyday Life in the Roman Empire: We’ll deep dive into the daily lives of Roman from the food they eat to the jobs they had. Kids in this session will build a home and incorporate aspects of what a traditional Roman home would look like.

⁠— Day 5 - The Fall of Rome: It all comes to an end! This session will focus on the many things that contributed to Rome’s decline. Students will get to experience the fall of Rome in a Minecraft activity.

Connected Camps is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2015 with the mission to build a global online community where kids build, code, play, and learn alongside one another. Our programs are designed based on extensive research in the learning sciences. The founders and leaders of Connected Camps, Mimi Ito and Katie Salen, are professors at the University of California, Irvine, who specialize in the design of online learning experiences that are fun, social, and directly tied to academic outcomes. Learn more about the research behind Connected Camps at the Connected Learning Alliance resource site: https://clalliance.org/ 

One thing that makes our programs unique is our near-peer mentorship model. Our programs are led by young adults and college students, often with the help of high school volunteers. We hire counselors and coaches from top universities in computer science, game development, economics, social studies, and the arts, and train them on how to facilitate project-based learning with younger kids. Our young instructors have the same passion for technology, games, and digital making as our learners, and take on the role of instructors, as well as fellow enthusiasts and relatable role models.

The curriculum for this program was designed by a team of counselors pursuing degrees relevant to the material at hand. The learning experiences in this class are driven by these counselors’ academic expertise in the field, along with their desire to share their passion for the subject with a group of excited learners. All of Connected Camps’ curricula are vetted by the organization’s Product Manager, Matthew, who possesses a Masters in Secondary Education and a deep belief in the power of collaborative virtual learning.