A new addiction is formed almost daily as millions of video game players – both young and old – are drawn to Minecraft.
This freeform building game allows users to construct virtual worlds from blocks of different materials. It is much like Lego in the real world except these don’t run out and the towers don’t fall over.
Playing the game involves surviving by using these cubes to build shelters, which can be as elaborate or basic as you want to make them, and turning raw materials and combinations of them into items (swords, armour, bows) to help kill the game’s many monsters.
According to Wikipedia, as of February 2017, more than 121 million copies of the game have been sold across all platforms, making it the second-best selling video game of all time, behind only the various releases of Tetris. And many of the game’s fans are children aged between nine and 15.
While many parents despair at their children spending so much time constructing elaborate worlds in a virtual space, some may be glad to hear that the game has its educational benefits – and a version even exists that ties into the South African educational system.
Created by Microsoft and called Minecraft Education Edition, the programme is loaded with useful classroom resources for teachers.
Adding an exciting new twist is Russell Pengelly, a former special needs teacher and now CEO of Cape Town-based ICT company Computers 4 Kids. He said after trying out the game, he decided to take it one step further by adding a digital CAPS-aligned curriculum to it, later pairing it with a South Africa-specific virtual world that children can create.
The South African virtual world includes well-known landmarks such as Table Mountain, as well as informal settlements, mines and game parks.
The educational tool – which Pengelly is currently rolling out to schools across the country – includes maths, English, science, geography and social studies lessons which any pupil with access to a tablet or a computer can use, either at home or in the classroom.
Minecraft was officially released in 2009 by creator Markus “Notch” Persson. The game is available on PC, Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Android tablets, iOS devices and Kindle Fire devices.
“We’ve taken the primary school curriculum to include about 550 lessons or activities which we’ve created. For high schools we’ve covered about 160 lessons,” Pengelly said.
“This programme has multiple uses in the classroom. For example, if the pupils are doing the water cycle, they can actually go into Minecraft to recreate that water cycle. It’s basically a live lesson of what the teacher has already covered by book.”
Pengelly, who started Computers 4 Kids 23 years ago and has since provided ICT training to more than six million pupils and 20 000 teachers, said the motivation behind the programme was to assist children to cope better in the classroom.
“If you tell a child to go and do some English or maths or science in a book, they’re not going to be too enamoured or excited about it.
“But if you tell that child to go and play on the computer and they can play a game like Minecraft to do that maths or science work, then you’re going to get a completely different reaction altogether from an enthusiasm and involvement point of view,” he said, adding that the game was particularly useful for special needs pupils.
“I’m a special needs teacher myself and I qualified many years ago before I started the company. This particular Minecraft programme works wonders with special needs kids. It works especially well with children who are battling to read or children who are autistic and who maybe battle to engage with the teacher. We have seen some tremendous results with pupils who are using Minecraft from that perspective.”
Pengelly said other benefits of playing the game include the development of collaboration, language skills and problem-solving.
Playing games has some other benefits too.
A 2013 study conducted by the American Psychological Association found that games are said to assist in strengthening a range of cognitive skills, such as spatial navigation, reasoning, memory and perception – contrary to the widely held view that playing games makes one intellectually lazy.
Touching on the requirements for the Minecraft educational game, Pengelly said schools needed to first have computers equipped with Microsoft Office 365, as well as a Windows 10 device.
“There is a licence that is payable to Microsoft, which works out to around R8 or R9 per pupil per month, and that gives them access to the Minecraft software which they can then use at school and at home.
“It’s great that pupils can use some of these resources at home to consolidate their learning,” Pengelly added.
In order to gain a better understanding of how the programme works, Pengelly is embarking on a roadshow from next month which is due to end in May next year.
Via the roadshow a total of 15 workshops will be held in East London, Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Swaziland. — zisandan@dispatch.co.za
SA teacher crafts educational platform for Minecraft game
This freeform building game allows users to construct virtual worlds from blocks of different materials. It is much like Lego in the real world except these don’t run out and the towers don’t fall over.
Playing the game involves surviving by using these cubes to build shelters, which can be as elaborate or basic as you want to make them, and turning raw materials and combinations of them into items (swords, armour, bows) to help kill the game’s many monsters.
According to Wikipedia, as of February 2017, more than 121 million copies of the game have been sold across all platforms, making it the second-best selling video game of all time, behind only the various releases of Tetris. And many of the game’s fans are children aged between nine and 15.
While many parents despair at their children spending so much time constructing elaborate worlds in a virtual space, some may be glad to hear that the game has its educational benefits – and a version even exists that ties into the South African educational system.
Created by Microsoft and called Minecraft Education Edition, the programme is loaded with useful classroom resources for teachers.
Adding an exciting new twist is Russell Pengelly, a former special needs teacher and now CEO of Cape Town-based ICT company Computers 4 Kids. He said after trying out the game, he decided to take it one step further by adding a digital CAPS-aligned curriculum to it, later pairing it with a South Africa-specific virtual world that children can create.
The South African virtual world includes well-known landmarks such as Table Mountain, as well as informal settlements, mines and game parks.
The educational tool – which Pengelly is currently rolling out to schools across the country – includes maths, English, science, geography and social studies lessons which any pupil with access to a tablet or a computer can use, either at home or in the classroom.
Minecraft was officially released in 2009 by creator Markus “Notch” Persson. The game is available on PC, Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Android tablets, iOS devices and Kindle Fire devices.
“We’ve taken the primary school curriculum to include about 550 lessons or activities which we’ve created. For high schools we’ve covered about 160 lessons,” Pengelly said.
“This programme has multiple uses in the classroom. For example, if the pupils are doing the water cycle, they can actually go into Minecraft to recreate that water cycle. It’s basically a live lesson of what the teacher has already covered by book.”
Pengelly, who started Computers 4 Kids 23 years ago and has since provided ICT training to more than six million pupils and 20 000 teachers, said the motivation behind the programme was to assist children to cope better in the classroom.
“If you tell a child to go and do some English or maths or science in a book, they’re not going to be too enamoured or excited about it.
“But if you tell that child to go and play on the computer and they can play a game like Minecraft to do that maths or science work, then you’re going to get a completely different reaction altogether from an enthusiasm and involvement point of view,” he said, adding that the game was particularly useful for special needs pupils.
“I’m a special needs teacher myself and I qualified many years ago before I started the company. This particular Minecraft programme works wonders with special needs kids. It works especially well with children who are battling to read or children who are autistic and who maybe battle to engage with the teacher. We have seen some tremendous results with pupils who are using Minecraft from that perspective.”
Pengelly said other benefits of playing the game include the development of collaboration, language skills and problem-solving.
Playing games has some other benefits too.
A 2013 study conducted by the American Psychological Association found that games are said to assist in strengthening a range of cognitive skills, such as spatial navigation, reasoning, memory and perception – contrary to the widely held view that playing games makes one intellectually lazy.
Touching on the requirements for the Minecraft educational game, Pengelly said schools needed to first have computers equipped with Microsoft Office 365, as well as a Windows 10 device.
“There is a licence that is payable to Microsoft, which works out to around R8 or R9 per pupil per month, and that gives them access to the Minecraft software which they can then use at school and at home.
“It’s great that pupils can use some of these resources at home to consolidate their learning,” Pengelly added.
In order to gain a better understanding of how the programme works, Pengelly is embarking on a roadshow from next month which is due to end in May next year.
Via the roadshow a total of 15 workshops will be held in East London, Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Swaziland. — zisandan@dispatch.co.za
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos