Interdisciplinary Gaming Curricula - Using MineCraft to build Sustainable Cities

[Karen Yager]

At our school we have just trialled successfully a cross disciplinary task that involved 261 boys designing a low energy, sustainable city using MineCraft. For one week the boys did not need a teacher! They were so focused and engaged. We sent them through a different challenge every day related to their core subjects and the nature of the design task, such as a Mathematics task on volumes. We surveyed the boys at the end to assess whether they enjoyed the task and if the task unleashed their creativity. 98% of the boys loved the task! They appreciated the tight deadlines and how they accessed new knowledge regarding information such as biomimicry to inform the design of their cities. We used the principle of flipped learning before the task commenced. I.e. we created a website that contained interesting articles about sustainability and green design, and responded to the boys' questions prior to the task commencing. I have attached the actual task that was cross-disciplinary and the Math task: Designing%20a%20low%20energy%20city_yr8_2011.docx. Year%208%20Integrated%20Assessment%20Task%20-%20Maths.docxWe are now looking at where we can take this.

[Kelly Farrow]

Rock on!!!! This is such a fabulous example of using gaming in education, not to mention using what kids love and are passionate about to drive learning. I started up a Gamestar Mechanic club, and then a Scratch club, and I know exactly what you mean about them not needing a teacher! They come in every week and are signed in and already working before I even get to the room. The way you tied all this to curriculum is also amazing! I believe both Gamestar and Scratch could also be used in this way, w/ some planning and collaboration w/ staff.