A few years ago, our school used Minecraft Edu to support children’s learning within an Yr 4 English unit on Rowan of Rin. This work was profiled within the Australian Curriculum site as part of Media Arts. Within this unit, the students read the novel, working to understand character development and how the character changes with plot developments.

A few key elements of Minecraft EE which add so much to the potential of this game to support and document learning within this unit are:

• the camera
• the book and quill
• the portfolio

Below are some guides to using these tools although there are minor differences depending on which version of Education Edition you are using.

The Camera:

The Book and Quill:

The Portfolio:

Sequence of activities to support narrative writing in Yr 4 might be:

Build the setting in small groups of 2-3.

Take a photograph of the key elements of the setting using the camera at the end of each build session.

Add to Book and Quill or Portfolio, depending on the purpose.

• Book and Quill allows you to add more text. Portfolio is only a label for the photo.

Add a piece of writing dependant on the teaching and learning at the time.

When whole book completed – name it .

Export the completed book to iBooks and students can share with each other.

Another option would be for students to upload their completed creations/stories to the Apple Book Store.

 

Alternate pathways:

• Export the portfolio file to Noteability and add text appropriate to the task.
• Screen shots various parts of the build and store them in a folder within the camera roll as a stimulus for writing.