{"id":8512,"date":"2024-12-26T21:18:02","date_gmt":"2024-12-27T05:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educatoral.com\/wordpress\/?p=8512"},"modified":"2024-12-28T11:44:21","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T19:44:21","slug":"minecraft-education-free-build-activity-gbl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educatoral.com\/wordpress\/2024\/12\/26\/minecraft-education-free-build-activity-gbl\/","title":{"rendered":"Minecraft Education Free Build Activity #GBL"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Students<\/a>
Students building together in a Minecraft multiplayer world.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

On our last day of 2024, the Friday before winter break, we ended each period with a Zen-like activity where students got to build a place that makes them happy in Minecraft Education. Students were already familiar with using Minecraft Education after participating in a few games during Computer Science Education Week. We started with the newest Hour of Code Minecraft Education game, the Show Must Go On, then I assigned the Corny Corn Caper, then Generation AI, then Inclusion. Friday I assigned students the middle school Cyber Security assignment, Network Heroes, to give them another way to learn about digital citizenship without needing to do any coding. I wanted students to see that there are many ways to be digitally literate without needing to become a coder or programmer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The free build activity going second after some Minecraft: Education ready-to-play games is part of my four step plan of integrating Minecraft into my Math and Science classes. It goes like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Students play ready-made worlds individually.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Students join a teacher-hosted world to build individually or in small groups.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Head to head build competitions!<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Collaborative small team project.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    This implementation plan gets students used to “playing” Minecraft for learning purposes and not just for gaming. I tell my students that if they are interested in PVP, join my esports club! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A new feature that Minecraft: Education added with their recent update is the ability save worlds to the cloud by connecting your Education Microsoft account to your OneDrive!<\/strong> That has been so helpful for me because I was able to test out games that I wanted kids to play at home on my home computer and then have the worlds\/games I tested at home load on my school computer and not lose any progress I already made at home. That helped me choose what games I offered kids for Hour of Code during Computer Science Education Week and it was essential as I created worlds to host for our free build activity! Here are my two free build worlds for each of my classes with a cloud icon to show it’s backed up!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"My<\/a>
    My Worlds Hosted and Saved to Cloud<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    What I did to setup the free build worlds was to start an infinite world game. It was the settings that were most important because I didn’t have to add much to the worlds except for the instructions below on a board and via an NPC. I made the world creative and enabled cheats but turned off any damage setting or PVP settings. I did allow fire to spread but turned off any explosives, which some kids were disappointed to hear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Here are the instructions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"World<\/a>
    World Build Instructions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    And here is what the NPC character said. It was really nothing necessary, I just wanted to add an NPC. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"NPC<\/a>
    NPC Instructions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Here are some of my students enjoying their last hour of the last day of 2024:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \"Students<\/a>
    Students building their own building that makes them happy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"Students<\/a>
    Students building cooperatively to make a shared house.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"Student<\/a>
    Student showing her Minecraft happy place build.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Here are some of their builds after an hour:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \"Student<\/a>
    Student Build<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"Student<\/a>
    Student Build<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"Student<\/a>
    Student Build Bottom View<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"Student<\/a>
    Student Build Top View<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"Winter<\/a>
    Winter Wonderland Build<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"Giant<\/a>
    Giant Toilet Build<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"Two<\/a>
    Two team build areas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"Home<\/a>
    Home inside a mountain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"Modern<\/a>
    Modern House Build<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"Student<\/a>
    Student House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    I think this student said it best with a message she left in her house:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \"Message<\/a>
    Message Inside Student House LOL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Here is a recording I made of my kids building:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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