Sharing Good Practice
Using MineCraft to enhance
students’ literacy skills
By Lisa Finch
M
inecraft is an amazingly
creative, digital tool. Yet,
it’s much more than just a
computer game or electronic
Lego. Minecraft liberates creativity
and allows individual students to freely
express themselves, in a variety of
ways.
For those of you who are not familiar
with Minecraft, it’s a digital world
that allows you to construct anything
(yes, anything) using blocks and an
inventory of supplies. You can create
LAN worlds where several users can
join together and collaborate on
projects.
At Primary school age, students can
freely express their understanding of
words and books by creating worlds
that accompany them. They can
practice phonics in their own Minecraft
“Wordworld” (created by them) which
is something that they find extremely
empowering.
Younger children can build animal
alphabets in a Minecraft zoo or make
their own digital dictionary. Imagine
a seven-year-old student who is
reading Roald Dahl’s book, The Twits.
Then imagine that they can build the
Twits’ home in Minecraft and include
labels, objects and books inside it.
The text they create can help them to
understand key vocabulary and they
can even adapt the book and re-write
sections from it.
They
are
able
to
complete
comprehension tasks inside Minecraft
where visual tools bring the learning to
life. Better still, they could work in small
groups and create a collaborative
e-portfolio that they can re-visit (and
adapt) over time. It allows them to see
their own progress and the learning
is personalised. Students are able to
make their own world, stock it with
meaningful trigger items and text, and
do it in a fun way!
At GCSE level, students can devise
worlds that bring literature alive.
Imagine recreating quotations within
a Dickensian-themed world, or
character props and reminders.
The visual stimulus that has been
crafted by the student in Minecraft
ticks many learning boxes. Our year
10 students are studying Lord of the
Flies and can build their own version
of the tropical island (by reading
Golding’s descriptions) where key
quotations are hidden on pathways
that each tell a different story. By
building the texts in their own worlds,
the students are personalising the
words of the author in a way that
they understand. Imagination takes
over and lets the students learn
in a way that works for them. They
take ownership of the words, their
meanings and interpretations. The
text becomes more memorable and
powerful because they have built it.
Minecraft is currently available in
several formats. Regular Minecraft is
playable online but a membership fee
is required for each individual player.
MinecraftEDU is a special version
(also paid for) that allows teachers to
teleport to student locations within a
given world. Pocket Minecraft is built
for the iPad and is very simple to use.
This has a few limitations but is great
at an introductory level. Given the
contents of the Minecraft inventory, it
also makes the game an ideal learning
tool to support a STEAM curriculum
as well… all you need is a little
imagination.
Class Time
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Mar - Apr 2016
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