Escape To Morrow: Minecraft as a Game Design Engine for Students
Minecraft is a little indie game that has taken the world by storm and has many wondering why children seem to be “obsessed” with this game. Given the enthusiasm surrounding this game, it is no surprise that educators are exploring ways to bring Minecraft into the classroom. In the edWeb.net Game-Based Learning community’s April webinar, attendees learned what happens when students are given the opportunity to design within a platform they love. Presenter Marianne Malmstrom, Cognitive Architect at The Elisabeth Morrow School in NJ, shared how play, agency, and autonomy can be leveraged with Minecraft to create learning spaces that are dynamic and relevant. She showed how learning is naturally embedded in Minecraft game play and how children playing in this space are engaged in a highly sophisticated mode of learning that taps into creativity, collaboration, design thinking, and problem solving. She discussed the series of Minecraft challenges that were created for the students at her school – including “Escape To Morrow,” an original Minecraft game which took the collaborative effort of students spanning grades 3-6 over one year to create. View the webinar to learn how to start using Minecraft as a game design engine with your students.
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Game-Based Learning is a professional learning community (PLC) that provides educators, game developers, researchers, and industry executives with a place to learn, ask questions, discuss topics, and share information about games and learning. This program is sponsored by Filament Games and co-hosted by edWeb.net, the Education Division of Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), and ISTE’s SIGVE.
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