Constructing Meaningful Learning with Minecraft Education: An Analysis of Game-Based Lessons
Goh Kok Ming1*
1 SJK (C) Hua Lian (1), Perak, Malaysia
*Corresponding Author: [email protected] Received: 25 March 2023 | Accepted: 5 May 2023 | Published: 1 June 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.55057/ajress.2023.5.2.5
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Abstract: The study of how teachers integrate digital games into their teaching and learning has not been widely explored. In this paper, the document analysis method was used to analyse the forty lesson plans created for Minecraft Edition. The findings explain descriptively the language, topic areas and skills, and student age of the lessons. Minecraft lessons were analyzed to work towards creating a taxonomy of teachers' designs. This study provides insight into the current uses of Minecraft Education as an educational tool and begins to explore how teachers design with the Minecraft Education Framework for educators.
Keywords: Minecraft Education, Digital Game-Based Learning, Lesson Planning
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1. Introduction
In recent years, digital games have become an increasingly popular form of entertainment and recreation, as technological advancements have enabled more immersive and engaging gameplay experiences (Freitas & Liarokapis, 2011; Crammer et al., 2021). Digital games are widely acknowledged for their potential as a medium for learning and education, in addition to their entertainment value (Korbinian & Manuel, 2020). Digital game-based learning (DGBL) is a developing trend in the field of education, with instructors and educators using games into their teaching techniques in an effort to increase student engagement, motivation, and skill development (Ratnasari, Chou, & Huang, 2023). The use of digital games in education is supported by the studies demonstrating that games may be an excellent teaching and learning tool because they encourage creativity (Behnamnia et al., 2020), critical thinking (Hussein et al., 2019), problem-solving (Dai, Ke, & Pan, 2022), and collaborative abilities (Romero et al., 2012). As the usage of digital games in education continues to rise, there is a greater need for educators to understand how to successfully and appropriately include games into their teaching techniques.
Minecraft Education is a relatively new teaching tool in Malaysia, but it is gaining popularity among educators seeking novel and interesting methods to keep students learned. Students may acquire a variety of abilities, including critical thinking, problem-solving, cooperation, and creativity, through a unique and immersive learning experience provided by the game. In Malaysia, Minecraft Education has been utilised to educate disciplines like science, mathematics, social studies, and English language. The ability for educators to design customized lesson plans and activities that correspond with their curriculum and teaching objectives is one of the reasons why Minecraft Education is gaining popularity (Youngkyun, Ellen, & Seongchul, 2020). In addition to providing a secure and regulated setting for students
to experiment and learn, this game is a perfect tool for hands-on and experiential education.
Also, the game may be used to enhance traditional teaching techniques and to interest students who may struggle to learn through traditional ways.
However, there are challenges to consider while applying Minecraft Education in the classroom, despite its potential benefits. They include ensuring that educators have the required training and support to properly integrate the game into their teaching techniques, ensuring that all students have fair access to technology and resources, and addressing any issues connected to screen time and digital distractions. Yet, with appropriate planning and implementation, Minecraft Education has the potential to be a useful and successful educational tool in Malaysia. To make appropriate planning and implementation, lesson planning is a crucial component of effective teaching and learning since it outlines what students will learn and how it will be taught (Ndihokubwayo et al., 2022). A well-designed lesson plan ensures that the educators are structured, well-prepared, and intent on accomplishing particular learning objectives. In addition, it provides a structure for assessing student progress and adjusting lessons as necessary. Therefore, the research objectives of this study is threefold: (1) To explore the current landscape of Minecraft education lessons in Malaysia, (2) To identify the lesson planning dimensions of Minecraft education, and (3) To propose a Minecraft Education framework for educators.
2. Digital Game-Based Learning
Digital game-based learning (DGBL) is a learning approach that primarily use digital games as a teaching and learning tool (Ratnasari, Chou, & Huang, 2023). The learning outcome is a more dynamic and immersive learning experience. When computer-based educational games were initially brought into schools in the 1980s and 1990s, the first examples of DGBL happened. These early educational games were frequently text-based and intended to teach fundamental skills such as typing and mathematics.
With the emergence of the internet and the development of more advanced gaming technologies in the 2000s, DGBL began to receive greater acceptability and appeal (Adam, 2022). Educational game creators began designing more complex games with captivating visuals, interactive features, and fascinating tales. These games were utilised to educate a variety of disciplines, including history, science, and language arts. In recent years, DGBL has continued to develop and grow, with the incorporation of virtual and augmented reality technology and the creation of more immersive and realistic games. The emergence of mobile devices and app-based learning has also helped to the expansion of DGBL, making it more accessible to students and educators (Sara & Enrico, 2022).
In recent years, there has been a growing need for digital game-based learning (DGBL) in education (Kacmaz & Dude, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift towards digital learning and highlighted the need for more engaging and interactive forms of online learning. The significance of DGBL rests in its capacity to enhance student involvement and learning motivation. Games are intrinsically engaging and provide quick feedback, incentives, and challenges, hence enhancing the enjoyment and interactivity of the learning process for students. DGBL can also help the development of crucial abilities for success in today's society, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and cooperation. Moreover, DGBL is adaptable to a number of learning styles and skill levels, making it a flexible tool for instructors. It may also be used to teach a variety of courses, including STEM subjects, history, and language arts, in an engaging and interactive approach that reinforces concepts and learning goals. There are
many examples of digital game-based learning in education (Prensky, 2003), Minecraft Education, Kahoot!, Duolingo, Code Combat, SimCity, and DragonBox. In this study, the use of Minecraft Education in teaching and learning was focused and discussed as Minecraft Education allows students to create and explore virtual worlds, while also learning a variety of subjects (Tisha, 2016).
3. Minecraft Education (MinecraftEDU)
In 2009, Swedish programmer Markus "Notch" Persson created Minecraft. With the assistance of the Swedish game production company Mojang, Persson created and released an early version of the game. The full version was released to the public in the fall of 2011, allowing users to construct anything they could imagine out of 3D cubes in an unlimited digital landscape (Mojang, 2015). As of 2020, it has 126 million monthly users and more than 200 million copies have been sold worldwide. Steve, the player's avatar, must acquire and mine resources in order to survive in a world filled with them (Smith, 2014). Steve must construct a shelter and gather supplies in order to live. The game employs block-like constructions (cubes) constructed on a predetermined grid (Talley, 2014). Each block can represent a unique substance, such as soil, water, grass, glass, minerals, or tree trunks (Talley, 2014). The player is first placed on the surface of a computer-generated world with biomes like as jungles, deserts, icy tundra-like regions, and mountains.
Minecraft Education (formerly Minecraft: Education Edition) is a version of Minecraft intended primarily for classroom usage. Minecraft is developed by Mojang Studios and Xbox Game Studios and has features that make it suitable for classroom usage. The full game was made available on November 1, 2016 (Davies, 2016). Minecraft Education is built on Bedrock Edition and includes features that make Minecraft more accessible and useful in the classroom.
In Minecraft Education, students create constructions using fundamental building materials collected from the game's rudimentary ecosystems. Source blocks can be employed to acquire liquid resources, material blocks, and weapons. In addition, students can use Redstone blocks, which can transfer electricity, to construct electric circuits that produce power (Milton & Ryan, 2019). Minecraft Education has been acclaimed for its innovative idea and player-driven story.
Nevertheless, there are also more reasons to use Minecraft Education to reflect game-based learning in a 3-D Virtual World environment for the purposes of this study. In contrast to other video games in which the objective is to complete levels or earn points, Short (2012) asserts that Minecraft Education does not have any typical video game objectives for players to accomplish. It imposes a substantial moral duty on the participants to establish their own self- defined goals (Short, 2012). The game features four game modes: survival, creative, and adventure, allowing the learner to customise his or her learning environment (Smith et al., 2014). Learners can modify the level of difficulty within each mode. In addition, students may play in single-player mode or with a server connection in multiplayer mode (Milton & Ryan, 2019).
In Survival mode, students collect natural materials from their surroundings to construct or manufacture structures while avoiding creatures that may appear throughout the night (Milton
& Ryan, 2019). The students can build a shelter or digs tunnels to protect themselves from midnight creatures (Talley, 2014). In contrast to survival mode, students in creative mode have access to all of the game's equipment and are not required to gather resources (Talley, 2014).
This mode allows students to focus on building constructions without worrying about hunger or hostile crowds (Talley, 2014). Students can walk or fly freely around the game without worry of damaging the surroundings or enemies. Survival mode and creative mode both require
players to create shelters and make items. Moreover, an adventure mode is where students may explore pre-made landscape while still engaging in survival mode (Talley, 2014). This mode also contains a command block that allows students to manually submit server instructions to expand their interactions with other learners (Talley, 2014).
4. Methodology
In this study, a qualitative method with document analysis and thematic analysis was conducted. For document analysis, forty (40) lesson plans of Minecraft Education were prepared by teachers and analyzed descriptively to explore the current landscape of Minecraft education lessons in Malaysia. Researcher has been reading and analysing the textual descriptions of the lesson plans, examining external resources, downloading and exploring the teacher-created worlds. Codes were created to account for patterns in the data through this iterative procedure. The dimensions were presented in this study, as well as a Minecraft Education Framework for educators was proposed to highlight how these dimensions combine to produce a variety of lesson ideas.
5. Findings and Discussions
Descriptive data from the lessons are provided in the following subsections in this study.
Particularly, the researcher provides data on the languages used, targeted student age, topic areas and skills, and lesson planning dimensions.
5.1 Topic Areas and Skills
An analysis has been conducted on a set of 40 Minecraft lesson plans, where each lesson plan was analyzed based on its subject area. The results showed that out of the 40 lesson plans, the majority (10 each) were focused on Mathematics and Science, followed by Reading and Writing (7), Religious (5), Arts (3), Technology (3), and History (2). This findings is beneficial for educators and policymakers interested in incorporating Minecraft into teaching and learning processes. It demonstrates that Minecraft can be used to teach a broad range of subjects, the most popular being mathematics and science. This demonstrates Minecraft's potential as a tool that may facilitate integrated learning across disciplines. The relevance of aligning lesson plans with specific topic areas and learning goals is highlighted. Furthermore, it stresses the necessity for educators to properly prepare and structure Minecraft programmes to ensure that they achieve the targeted learning outcomes. The most focused skill among the forty analysed lesson plans was creativity, followed by critical thinking. This suggests that the majority of lesson plans attempted to inspire students to think creatively and critically, most likely through Minecraft-related projects involving construction and problem-solving. Only three of the forty lesson ideas addressed teamwork and communication skills. Minecraft is a game that encourages collaboration and communication, thus it would be advantageous to include more lessons that encourage these abilities. Students can develop key social and cooperation skills, which are useful in both school and work environments, by collaborating in Minecraft.
5.2 Targeted Student Age
In a sample of 40 lesson plans for Minecraft Education, there were 30 instances of lesson plans designed for 11-12 year olds, making it the most commonly targeted age group. The next most prevalent age group was 9-10 year olds, which occurred in 10 of the lesson plans. Interestingly, there were no occurrences of lesson plans targeting 7-8 year olds. This study indicated that educators are now integrating Minecraft in the classroom, and they have certain age groups in mind. The study shows that the most common age range for students appears to be between 8
and 10 years old and it is consistent with previous research on Minecraft's appeal among primary school students (Gallagher, 2014). That may indicate that Minecraft is being applied more often with older children or that it is easier for teachers to construct lessons for this age range. The lack of lesson ideas for 7-8 year olds may possibly indicate that teachers find it challenging to adapt Minecraft for younger children, or that they are focused on alternative resources and strategies for this age range. In that regard, this study emphasises the necessity for continuing investigation and development of Minecraft Education lesson plans for a range of age groups, as well as the need of ensuring that the tool is accessible and flexible to all students.
5.3 Languages Used
Each of these lessons was accessed and appropriately marked with codes and themes. 35 (87.5%) of 40 lessons were prepared in Malay language, while the other 5 (12.5%) lessons were prepared in a variety of languages. In corresponding to this, it is useful for educators in Malaysia or other countries where Malay is spoken or is the official language to understand the availability and accessibility of Minecraft lessons in the Malay language and consider the need for developing more lessons in other languages to cater to a wider audience.
5.4 Dimensions of Minecraft Education Lesson Plans
To identify the dimensions of Minecraft Education lesson plans, Bar-EI and Ringland (2020)’s article was referred. Seven dimensions of Minecraft lesson plans teacher designed were found in their studies. However, this study extended their dimensions and categorized them by superordinate and subordinate themes. Table 1 presents the themes. Refer to Table 1, the subordinate theme “World Builder and NPCs” could both contribute to the theme of
“Immersion” in the game world. “Single or Multiplayer, Interactivity, and Student Builders”
could contribute to the theme of “Engagement” with the game mechanics and systems.
“External Media and Documentation” could contribute to the theme of “Integration” with external tools and resources. By analysing how these dimensions or codes connect to one another and contribute to these overarching themes, educators may gain a better understanding of how Minecraft Education lesson plans are planned and implemented, and how they can be applied to facilitate classroom effectiveness.
Table 1: Mapping the themes of Designing Minecraft Lesson Plans
Dimensions/Codes (Bar-El & Ringland, 2020) Subordinate Theme Superordinate Theme
• Teacher-built world
• NPCs present
• NPC functions/roles
• World Builder and NPCs • Immersion
• Single or multiplayer
• Interactivity with game elements
• Student building expectation
• Type of student building
• Single or Multiplay`er, Interactivity, and Student Builders
• Engagement
• Use of external media
• Type of external media
• Documentation requirement
• Tools for documentation
• External Media and Documentation
• Integration
5.5 The Minecraft Education Framework for Educators
The Minecraft Education Framework for Educators is a framework proposed for integrating Minecraft into teaching practices (see Figure 1) based on the findings found in the document analysis. This framework could be used to create effective and engaging Minecraft Education lessons. In this framework, the context of learning is the important element as it encompasses
the overall situation, environment, and background in which the lesson is taking place (Rita, 1997; Claire, Concepción, & Stephen, 2014). The context consists of factors such as the subject matter, the grade level, the classroom setting, the learning objectives, and the students' prior knowledge and experiences. By considering the context of a lesson, educators can adjust the learning content and delivery of the lesson to better suit the needs and abilities of the students, and to create a more meaningful and relevant learning experience. The context of a lesson can also influence the choice of Minecraft Education features that are integrated into the lesson, as well as the assessment and evaluation methods used to measure student learning outcomes.
Therefore, the context is a key factor in the design and implementation of effective Minecraft Education lesson plans (Arthur, 2014).
Figure 1: The Minecraft Education Framework for Educators
The Minecraft Education Framework for Educators provides a framework for designing and delivering meaningful learning experiences using Minecraft Education Edition. The framework is based on five core competencies: collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, citizenship, and communication. Immersion in the game world can be linked to the core competency of creativity. By building and exploring in Minecraft Education Edition, students can develop their creativity and imagination. Engagement with the game mechanics and systems can be linked to the core competencies of critical thinking and collaboration. By working together to solve problems and navigate the game mechanics, students can develop their critical thinking skills and learn to collaborate effectively. Moreover, integration with external tools and resources can be linked to the core competencies of citizenship and communication. By using external tools and resources to support their learning in Minecraft Education Edition, students can learn to be responsible digital citizens and develop their communication skills.
6. Conclusion
In conclusion, Minecraft Education has the potential to be a valuable tool for teaching and learning in various subjects, but it requires careful planning and implementation to be effective.
By considering the various components and themes of lesson plans, as well as the Minecraft Education Framework for Educators, educators can design engaging and effective lessons that promote student learning and success.
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