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Connecting Community and Curriculum through Minecraft Education

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Colorado Convention Center, Bluebird Ballroom Lobby, Table 1

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Presenters

Holly Doga

Technology Training Center Facilitator

CPSB
@HollyDoga1

I have been in the Educational field for 18 years serving as a Middle School Teacher and a Technology Facilitator for our Parish. As being a teacher in a 1:1 classroom for many years, I find my expertise to be in integrating engaging and accessible technology lessons to support the instructional goals for the lesson. I currently work to Support teachers in the successful implementation of technology within their classroom by offering face-to-face professional development opportunities, virtual meeting opportunities of professional development, and in class-mentoring sessions.

Dana McGee

Technology Facillitator

Calcasieu Parish Technology Training Cen
@mcgee_dana

Currently a Technology Facilitator with the Calcasieu Parish School Board in Louisiana, Dana has been a Louisiana Assistive Technology Initiative Technology Facilitator, Instructional Coach, Lead Teacher, and classroom teacher. Since receiving her Master's Degree in Education with a concentration in Educational Technology in 2003, she has been fascinated with emerging technology and how to integrate with curriculum to motivate students and improve efficiency as an educator. She has presented at local, state, and national conferences including Louisiana Council for Exceptional Children (LACEC), Teaching and Technology (TNT), and ISTE affiliates Louisiana Association of Computer Using Educators (LACUE) and Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA).

Session description

Explore the possibilities of Minecraft Education that encourage student engagement and make curriculum connections in the classroom while bringing community awareness. We will highlight a year-long initiative that focuses on students using Minecraft to design and build solutions to local problems to create a better vision for our city.

Purpose & objective

In today's classrooms, teachers are constantly looking for ways to keep students engaged in learning. This session will explore the many possibilities of Minecraft to enhance engagement, create content connections, and raise awareness of community projects and issues. We will highlight a year-long initiative where students use Minecraft Education to design and build solutions to local problems for improvement to the city. Student designs will be featured along with strategies for incorporating ongoing city-wide projects that promote sustainability, empathy, and critical thinking skills. Additionally, attendees will learn how Minecraft Education provides pre-made templates, coding opportunities, and the ability to create 3D models that can be 3D printed.

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Outline

Content and activities: We will highlight student-created products from the Futuristic Minecraft: Build a Better Future Initiative launched during the 2022-2023 school year and the Imagination Unleashed Initiative for the 2023-2024 school year hosted by the CPSB Technology Training Center. We will explain how we got teachers and students involved in the challenges and share resources for using the platform. These tasks encourage students to use their innovative thinking and problem-solving abilities to create greater possibilities for the people in their community.

Time: We will spend 4-5 minutes sharing our vision for using Minecraft Education to connect curriculum to community challenges using our district website. Participants can view a video playing on repeat that shows student-created video tours of their Minecraft build.

Process: The Minecraft platform will be available for participants to explore some of the pre-made templates for them to identify ways to use it with their students. We will also display a QR code to resources.

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Supporting research

Following our investigation into other school districts' use of the Minecraft Education Platform to challenge their students, we developed our own ideas that would address real-world problems affecting our community. These are a few of the websites that we used for research and information:

https://www.schools.nyc.gov/learning/subjects/stem/minecraft-education-challenge

https://www.austinisd.org/technology/family-technology-resources/minecraft

https://sites.google.com/fayette.kyschools.us/fcpsminecraft/district-build-challenges

These are the websites that we use to promote the project.

https://www.cpsb.org/Page/37532

https://www.cpsb.org/Page/39881

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Session specifications

Topic:

Innovative learning environments

Grade level:

PK-12

Skill level:

Beginner

Audience:

Library media specialists, Teachers, Technology coordinators/facilitators

Attendee devices:

Devices not needed

Subject area:

Computer science, STEM/STEAM

ISTE Standards:

For Educators:
Designer

Use technology to create, adapt and personalize learning experiences that foster independent learning and accommodate learner differences and needs.
Design authentic learning activities that align with content area standards and use digital tools and resources to maximize active, deep learning.

For Students:
Knowledge Constructor

Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.

Connecting Community and Curriculum through Minecraft Education

, Colorado Convention Center, Bluebird Ballroom Lobby, Table 1

Presenters

Session description

Purpose & objective

Outline

Supporting research

Session specifications

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Colorado Convention Center, Bluebird Ballroom Lobby, Table 1