Pilot Minecraft Project Doveton College- Doveton Live

Minecraft Project

Doveton College 2013

Gene Geoffrey, Peter Wardrobe, Chrisi Tambakakis and Nathan

Term 1 Project Trial   20 year 5 students
Term 2 20 year 5 students (same 20 as term 1) 20 year 3 students
Term 3 20 year 5students 20 year 3 students
Term 4 20 year 5 students 20 year 3 students

Purpose and Vision

This program will introduce the students to the Minecraft software. They will be trained as experts in the software’s use, modes and functions. The long term goal is to skill the year 5 student to become mentors/tutors and teachers for the year 3 student. They will work with the younger students to teach them skills in ICT and the use of the Minecraft software.

Within the project they will be required to work in a cooperative group to design and build structures for public use/purpose for a specific audience. The audience will be the year 3 students they will eventually be the mentors for. Their explicit team goal must be reached through the development and implementation of social skills, team effort and communication skills. The long term goal is to teach younger student the skills they have developed and introduce them to the structures they have created in the software. As they work with the younger students they will be able to self-evaluate the success of their structures and their teaching/mentorship of the students.

Term 1 Trial

The trial group in term 1 will be asked to build a structure using the new Minecraft software. Staff will monitor and trouble shoot as the term progresses.

The staff will be monitoring success, failures and identifying points of interest. A high focus will be placed on student interests and skills, social and interpersonal etiquette of software users. Also monitoring the ability of the students to interact positively in class teams and in the Minecraft worlds, with the goal of creating a set of rules and laws governing the “Minecraft world” that all the students will agree to abide by.

Structure Term 2,3 and 4

Week Project outline Weeks 1 – 4 Year 5 students only TEAMS

Training - Introduce the student to Minecraft and it use/function. Students will work in teams to design and build structures using Minecraft, with the goal of introducing their structure to the younger student s. The aim is that the younger students will engage and interact with the structure in the Minecraft. The structures design and building process Investigate/Design/Produce/Evaluate Week 5 – 7

Year 5 students Year 3 students PAIRS

During this period the year 5 students will work with a year three student in a pair. The year 5 student will work with their partner teaching them how to use an iPad and use the Minecraft software, all of the functions and tools in the software.

Week 8 - 10 (11) Year 5 students Year 3 students PAIRS

The year 5 students will work in pairs with the year 3 student in the iMac lab. They will introduce the Minecraft software on the iMacs and help the students to transfer the skills developed on the iPads to the iMac (develop ICT skills) the major component of this stage is the introduction of the structures designed and built by their teams to the year 3 students. They will evaluate their teams efforts as the younger students use their structures and interact with them using the skills they have developed.

Student Grouping

Year 5 students TEAMS - Design and build stage

Year 5 and 3 students PAIRS – mentor, tutor, skill development and TEAM evaluation.

20 students, these students will be drawn from the 9 learning teams across the school. Each term the groups will change. They will be working in cooperative teams of 2 Pair 4 team. The 2 and 4 grouping has shown to be the most productive team structure. It allows for optimum input and role distribution, equal participation and individual accountability.

In order for student achievement to improve considerably, two characteristics must be present

a) Students are working towards a group goal or recognition. Cooperative learning tasks, individual responsibility and accountability must be identified. Individuals must know exactly what their responsibilities are and that they are accountable to the group in order to reach their goal.

b) Success is reliant on each individual’s learning. Positive interdependence among students in the task. All group members must be involved in order for the group to complete the task. In order for this to occur each member must have a task that they are responsible for which cannot be completed by any other group member.

TEAMS must assess their effectiveness and decide how it can be improved The cooperative learning approach promotes

P = Positive Interdependence
I = Individual Accountability
E = Equal Participation
S = Simultaneous Interaction (Dr Spencer Kagan - Cooperative Learning Strategies)