Lesson Plans | GETTING STARTED WITH MINECRAFTEDU ISTE NETS - Digital Age Skills 1. Creativity and Innovation Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes Create original works as a means of personal or group expression Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues Identify trends and forecast possibilities 2. Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats Contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems 3. Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. 4. 5. 6.
11 Apps and Sites for Learning to Code When the conversation amongst educators turns to programming, Scratch is often the first resource that is mentioned. Scratch allows students to program animations, games, and videos through a visual interface. Students create their programs by dragging together blocks that represent movements and functions on their screens. The blocks snap together to help students see how the "if, then" logic of programming works. If you haven't seen Scratch before, watch the short overview in the video below. Scratch Overview from ScratchEd on Vimeo. Scratch Jr. is based on the aforementioned online Scratch program. Snap! The MIT App Inventor allows students to create and publish their own Android applications. Google Blockly's interface will remind you of the MIT App Inventor and Scratch. Crunchzilla is a service that students can use to learn to write Javascript programs. Code Maven offers 59 lessons for students to work through at their own pace to learn programming fundamentals.
Introduction to ComputerCraftEdu Introduction to ComputerCraftEdu This wiki article covers the basic concepts of the software, using the robots, and programming. You may also find the following pages helpful: ComputerCraftEdu is a new way to learn computational thinking inside Minecraft. Players take control of powerful but clueless turtle robots in the game. Whether you are completely new to programming or you already have some experience, ComputerCraftEdu is an easy and fun way to learn important real world skills and get creative on a whole new level. ComputerCraftEdu is a collaboration between TeacherGaming, Dan200 and E-Line Media. Installing ComputerCraftEdu ComputerCraftEdu is a free modification to Minecraft that requires either MinecraftEdu (1.7.10) or regular Minecraft (1.7.10) to work. If you are using MinecraftEdu ComputerCraftEdu can be downloaded from online mods directly from the launcher. If you are using regular Minecraft You can download ComputerCraftEdu here. Installation checklist for regular Minecraft:
Unplugging the Hour of Code Teaching kids to code is arguably as important to today’s youth as numeracy and literacy. In many ways code is numeracy and literacy. More so, it is also a way of looking at problems, breaking them down, thinking about solutions and being creative. From an industry standpoint, there will be more jobs than coders in the next few years and I expect to see a Chief Robotics Officer position any day now. By now many have heard of the Hour of Code movement. In the most trivial form, code is a set of instructions, like a written procedure only in machine language. From a numeracy perspective, coding is a form of computational thinking. Let’s explore an example that can be done with regular classroom materials. As a class, develop a list of “pseudocode” blocks based on the math vocabulary required for your students. Discuss how each block can be linked to form a chain of commands. You may differentiate and scaffold chains of block code for different students. Coding FriendBot
15 Incredible Architectural Feats Made in Minecraft With more than 70 million copies sold worldwide, it would be unfair to refer to Minecraft as just a simple game of textured boxes in a pixelated 3D world. After acquiring the makers of the game (Mojang) in 2014, Microsoft announced on Tuesday, January 19 that it also acquired MinecraftEdu, the official educational version of Minecraft, which is used as a creative tool in more than 10,000 classrooms in 45 countries around the world. The infinite possibilities that the game offers have led millions of people around the world to make and share their greatest creations: cities, buildings and even the reinterpretation of historical structures. Minecraft's impact was recognized in 2015 when the Centre Pompidou dedicated an exhibition to its creative potential for children and adolescents. We've rounded up 15 of the best models created on the platform. Beijing in 1751 The project is already available on MinecraftEDU to teach history, language and geography, according to its creators. Adamantis
5 places where any kid can learn how to code “The kids of today tap, swipe and pinch their way through the world. But unless we give them tools to build with computers, we are raising only consumers instead of creators,” says programmer Linda Liukas. That’s why parents and teachers should introduce coding as a creative act — a playful form of making that requires imagination, bravery and perseverance. 1) Hello Ruby Hello Ruby is a whimsical website (and book!) 2) Code.org Code.org teaches students the basics of programming through a free series of guided exercises — and is one of several resources on this list to be recommended by the TED Technology Team. 3) Scratch Created and maintained by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at MIT’s Media Lab, Scratch is a both a programming language and an evolving community of young coders. 4) Girls Who Code Will the next generation of computer scientists include more Ada Lovelaces? 5) CS Unplugged Even a Waldorf school can get excited about these computer science teaching tools.
Minecraft: Researchers urge teachers to embrace game as tool to teach maths, art, geography Updated Teachers should use the hugely popular children's digital game Minecraft to help teach maths, design, art and geography, research from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) shows. For years studies have warned of the dangers of letting children have too much time on electronic devices. But researchers at QUT have urged educators to embrace the game, which is hugely popular with primary school children, to assist their learning. Associate Professor Michael Dezuanni said his research has shown that Minecraft should not be limited to children's playtime. "I've had the opportunity over the last couple of years to work with a couple of schools using Minecraft in the classroom," he said. "We've seen some real success with engagement, problem solving students, with design and their creative work. "The teachers working with those students have been quite impressed by the way students work with the game as well." Media player: "Space" to play, "M" to mute, "left" and "right" to seek.
Feed The Beast Wiki Minecraft is finally fixing its huge gender problem Children play Minecraft at a Microsoft store in Bellevue, Wash. (David Ryder/Bloomberg News) When Pauline Stanley's 6-year-old daughter, Isabell, started playing Minecraft, she was excited to join her fellow first-grade players, who'd become obsessed with adventuring around the game's vast digital universe and building with Lego-like blocks. But there was one problem: In the boundlessly creative world of one of the most popular video games, the only character she could play was Steve, a bulky man with short, dark hair and a 5 o'clock shadow. "Only having boys is telling everybody this is a boy game only," said Isabell, who knew girls in her class who had quit playing the game. It's a shortcoming that has long plagued the Minecraft franchise, which Microsoft bought last year for $2.5 billion after it sold more than 50 million copies and become a massively popular children's game and in-class teaching tool. [What is Minecraft and why did Microsoft just spend $2.5 billion on it?]