Tag Archives: minecraft

10 November 2019
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Minecraft teaches future programmers

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This is not a secret that the IT industry is expanding very quickly. It causes a constant growth of demand for programmers. According to the speculations of the European Committee, EU labour market will not meet this demand until 2030. Because of the money earned by beginner programmists, more and more people older than 30 decide to change their occupancy to “junior programmist”. But it still isn’t enough. The solution is to put kids in the world of programming very early, so when they grow up, part of them will fill the shortage on the labour market.

Microsoft came up with an idea to make young people interested in coding. They developed a learning platform which is Minecraft: Education Edition. Of course, computer science is not the only subject, which can be taught via Minecraft EDU. The platform also contains contents for mathematics, art, science etc. The software is not only dedicated to schools, but also for private educators. Many private institutions have made the use of Minecraft education, creating courses for groups of children.

According to Linkedin data, such skills as mobile development or design of user interface will be in high demand in the coming years. Also, there is no doubt that thanks to programming young children can learn a set of other skills such as problem-solving. What is more teaching computer science in schools is recommended, because it allows students to gain information about the continuously developing technology. However not every child finds programming interesting, probably instead of learning it, they would rather… play some computer game. Here comes MINECRAFT: EE, which combines both, fun and learning. Creators of the content of the lessons of PYTHON developed a set of various tasks, which both make children engaged in it and doesn’t make them bored.

Microsoft and Code.org team up to bring ‘Minecraft’ to Hour of Code (PRNewsFoto/Microsoft Corp.)

The problems, which children need to solve are based on in-game issues. For example, they have to create a script, which will display the number of steps every 10 seconds or they have to build a program, which will build a house in Minecraft on its own. Of course, there are also more complex tasks related to some story: one of them shows a real-world use of AI on an example of predicting a chance of fire.

To conclude, thanks to Minecraft, young learners have an opportunity to gain various practical skills, such as analytical thinking, problem-solving, basics of coding, intermediate programming (AI and python) and understanding the technology. However, such an idea has its dark side. Programming is going to be the next subject in students’ schedule, while they already have plenty of them. Is it appropriate to make young students have more obligations?  Maybe we should abandon some other subjects to avoid making youngsters overworked?

references:

1.https://education.minecraft.net/class-resources/code-with-minecraft/

2.https://zielonalinia.gov.pl/-/boom-na-programistow-potrwa-do-2030-roku-prognoza-ekspertow

3.https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/coding-education-important-implemented/

4.https://www.giganciprogramowania.edu.pl/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA2ITuBRDkARIsAMK9Q7PTgcrGDuP0XnNLAmT_gYWvDIuXFvuDQSfbmpnSP0lIz4Jonkca-EIaAko1EALw_wcB

5.https://education.minecraft.net/wp-content/uploads/HoC_Lesson-Plan.pdf

6.https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/coding-education-important-implemented/

7.https://education.minecraft.net/lessons/teach-python-with-minecraft-pi/

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21 October 2019
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Is Minecraft going to revolutionise education?

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Znalezione obrazy dla zapytania minecraft classroom

Remind Yourself about lessons in Your primary or secondary school. Some of them were presumably boring and even if they took place only once a week, You did not want to participate in them at all. Such a phenomenon occurs because how the information is delivered, for instance, boring lectures, during which no one except a teacher is permitted to say anything. Nowadays it became very difficult to make young students interested in a subject with traditional teaching methods. That’s why more and more apps and educational platforms are being developed to help teachers to make their lessons impressing.

Following the trend of a growing number of interactive tools, which help to teach, Microsoft decided to get into the market introducing “Minecraft: Education Edition”. Most of today’s children know what Minecraft is and probably have played it. For those, who don’t know it, Minecraft is a computer game, with infinite possibilities to discover the world by building things and completing achievements. More and more teachers around the world start using this method.  All of them could easily introduce this approach on their lessons because there are special guides and scenarios of classes on the Internet and also everyone can consult a professional mentor, who will help to implement Minecraft Edu in real life.

Znalezione obrazy dla zapytania minecraft education

“It is better to build it and understand it than write it on paper and understand it”

Some people would probably doubt if Minecraft is appropriate for every school subject, but the idea is admired by teachers of various subjects, from all around the world. On the website of Minecraft: Education Edition there are special materials for teachers uploaded. Subject kits for Language Arts, Science, History and Culture, Computer Science, Math, Art and Design can be found there.

It has been proven that children, whose teacher implemented Minecraft Edu, tend to learn more efficient, but on the other hand, such way of learning cannot be introduced in every case. The first and main reason is that in some countries, schools have not enough money to provide their students with such facilities as computer labs and they cannot require children to have their laptops. Secondly, would old teachers, who have been teaching traditionally for all of their lives introduce such an innovative method? Probably most of them would not do that. Finally, teachers and parents are not always able to monitor how much time do children spend in front of the screen, so if this was neglected, young students could be exposed to “screen addiction”.

References:

1)https://minecrafteducation.zendesk.com/hc/en-us

2)https://www.microsoft.com/pl-pl/education/minecraft

3)https://education.minecraft.net

4)https://www.educationandbehavior.com/how-does-minecraft-education-edition-work-is-it-good-for-students/

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