Over the past year there has been a growing body of evidence that the popular game Minecraft is a powerful learning tool that can revolutionize the way we teach. Many teachers and schools want to try it but do not know how. With this in mind we welcome you to Mathcraft, a program created by teacher and curriculum writer Jim Pike, 5th grade teacher at Albert Einstein Academy of Beverly Hills, as a way to engage his students in the understanding of and performance on Common Core Math. In this webinar Jim demonstrated how to turn Minecraft buildings into algebraic equations, how to build algorithms for standardized test questions in the game itself, and more.
Are you curious about game-based learning, but don’t know where to begin? This webinar covered what to look for in a game, where to get good games for learning, and strategies to integrate games into the system of a classroom.
In this webinar for the Game-Based Learning community, third grade teacher Jim Pike demonstrated Mathcraft, a Common Core Math curriculum centered around the popular video game Minecraft that he developed and has been using with his students over the past year.
Lecture, worksheet, test. Lecture, worksheet, test. It’s a common routine in many classrooms, and, rather than a rare virus or nuclear war, it’s likely to be the true cause of a future zombie apocalypse with today’s students who are tomorrow’s future. In an effort to break this vicious cycle (and save humanity?), instructional technologist Lucas Gillispie and pioneering teachers in his school district are teaming up and working to transform classrooms through the use of popular commercial games.
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.