A Minecraft build can be used to teach almost any subject
A course on modernity took place entirely within the game's world and
provided the framework for a new form of instruction

Date:
February 23, 2022
Source:
Concordia University
Summary:
A professor has used Minecraft to teach a class on the history
and culture of modernity. The course was based entirely within
the game server, with instructions, in-class communication and
course work almost exclusively carried out within the Minecraft
world and over the messaging app Discord. This new pedagogical
framework presented the researchers with the opportunity to see
how the students used the game to achieve academic goals.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
For all its massive popularity, Minecraft -- the highest-selling video
game of all time -- is not highly regarded among the gaming world's
snob class. The graphics are blocky, and there isn't much of a point to
it. It's for kids.


==========================================================================
But according to many millions of users, including some Concordia
faculty and students, Minecraft's malleability is its strength. Free from constraints and easily modifiable, the game can be used in countless ways, including as a game- based teaching method. In a period when classrooms
have had to pivot online with little warning or prep time, the realm of Minecraft has provided educators with a massive sandbox in which to play, experiment and teach.

A new paper published in the journal Gamevironments by Darren Wershler, professor of English, and Bart Simon, associate professor of sociology
and director of Concordia's Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and
Technology, describes how Wershler used Minecraft to teach a class on the history and culture of modernity. The course was based entirely within
the game server, with instructions, in-class communication and course
work almost exclusively carried out within the Minecraft world and over
the messaging app Discord. This new pedagogical framework presented the researchers with the opportunity to see how the students used the game
to achieve academic goals.

"The course is not a video game studies course, and it is not a gamified version of a course on modernity," explains Wershler, a Tier 2 Concordia University Research Chair in Media and Contemporary Literature. "It's
this other thing that sits in an uncomfortable middle and brushes up
against both.

The learning comes out of trying to think about those two things simultaneously." Familiar concepts, new learning The students quickly
adapted to their unique classroom and lost little time adapting to their
new learning environment. Some took time to teach their peers who were unfamiliar with the game, providing them with instructions on how to
mine resources, build homes, plant food and survive waves of attacks
by hostile zombies and skeletons. Others, who usually did not identify themselves as natural-born leaders, found themselves answering questions
and providing guidance because of their gaming proficiency.

The students eventually decided on group projects that would be created
in the Minecraft world and touched on the issues of modernity addressed
in Wershler's half-hour podcast lectures and readings. One group tried
to recreate Moshe Safdie's futuristic Habitat 67, which, Wershler notes,
fits right into the Minecraft aesthetic. Another group built an entire
working city (populated by Minecraft villagers) on the model of the
Nakagin Capsule Tower Building in Tokyo.

Rather than using the Creative mode that many educators favour, the
game was set in the more difficult Survival mode, so students were
often killed by marauding foes. The researchers downloaded fan-made modifications to enhance the game as they chose; but the mods also made
the gameplay wonkier and more liable to crash at inopportune times.

"It was important that the game remained a game and that while the
students were working on their projects, there were all these horrible
things coming out of the wilderness to kill them," Wershler says. "This
makes them think about the fact that what they are doing requires effort
and that the possibility of failure is very real." An adaptable build He admits to being happily surprised with how well his students adapted to
the parameters of the course he co-designed along with a dozen other interdisciplinary researchers at Concordia. Wershler has been using
Minecraft in his course since 2014, but he realized this approach created
a scaffold for a new style of teaching.

"Educators at the high school, college and university levels
can use these principles and tools to teach a whole variety of
subjects within the game," he says. "There is no reason why
we could not do this with architecture, design, engineering,
computer science as well as history, cultural studies or
sociology. There are countless ways to structure this to make it work." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Concordia_University. Original written
by Patrick Lejtenyi. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Darren Wershler and Bart Simon. The Allegorical Build. Minecraft and
Allegorical Play in Undergraduate Teaching. Gamevironments, 2022
DOI: 10.48783/gameviron.v15i15.148 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220223111245.htm

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