Miss B, who is a Year 3 teachers, explains how we use Minecraft in our curriculum to deepen learning in core subject areas and beyond.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have been using Minecraft Education in the classroom now for 2 years. It is an ideal tool to teach across all aspects of the curriculum including Maths, English, PSHE and Computer coding. My year 3 pupils get really excited when they hear that we are going to be using Minecraft in the lesson. During the lessons there is a buzz in the classroom, all the children are engaged and work hard to achieve a desired outcome. This year we have used Minecraft to teach Maths, English and coding. All the children are able to access the learning, even our most reluctant learners want to learn and use Minecraft. We tend to work in mixed ability pairs with both children expected to participate in all aspects of the learning.

Minecraft in Maths

We use Minecraft in maths to teach concepts that the children have difficulty picturing. I have used Minecraft to teach arrays in multiplication, position and direction, fractions and many more. The children find that doing something that is fun helps them to remember the concept much easier and help retention. 

Minecraft in English 

A blank world with an indefinite amount of resources is a wonderful thing. This enables children to use their imagination to build a story setting that they can use in their writing. Children often say that they cannot visualise where their story is going to take place. Minecraft enables the children to produce their own story setting in 3D with buildings that they can enter and decorate as they wish.  

Coding with Minecraft 

The Computing with Minecraft course introduces students to core computer programming concepts and computational thinking skills. It builds on the popularity of Minecraft, featuring Minecraft Education Edition and the Computing with Minecraft dev world, and introduces Microsoft MakeCode, a block- and JavaScript-programming editor in the free Code Connection app.  

The course is comprised of five units that combine a variety of computer programming skills in a structured, linear approach to build a city with road networks, buildings, a park, a zoo, and a wind farm in their Minecraft world—all through coding. Most units include three lessons (of approximately 45-60 minutes each) with guided coding activities to gain hands-on coding experience, knowledge check questions to assess their learning, and optional activities for students to apply what they’ve learned.

 

Teaching all units and lessons will be approximately 19 hours of instructions.