Month: November 2020

Minecraft

I have actually had the pleasure of playing Minecraft, I grew up with it as being one of the video games that blew up in the peak of my video game phase during middle and high school. I also recently re-downloaded the game to experiment with it and build a few different things. After watching the pre-class video I was inspired about having Minecraft in education, my niece and nephew are at the prime age for playing Minecraft and love it. Because of this video and the class I am attempting to find a way to use it to help with their at homeschooling during the pandemic. As having the experience of playing it I understand the creative, collaborative aspects of the game but watching the video there is so much more. I never thought of using Minecraft to teach physics or math, architecture and history I understand because you can build examples of famous buildings from around the world etc. There is definitely a stigma about video games in education, but I am going to further explore Minecraft in the classroom and how it can help my niece and nephew. Here is the video we were assigned to watch as a pre-class activity, I found it fascinating:

I have also included a video I found on my own:

In our EdTech 336 class we learned how to use Tinkercad with Rich. For those who do not know what Tinkercad is it is a program that allows users to create 3D images and models in order to be 3D printed. Their website says “Tinkercad is a free online collection of software tools that help people all over the world think, create and make. We’re the ideal introduction to Autodesk, the leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software” (Autodesk Inc., 2020). I have included a video from their website here:

In the EdTech class we were able to choose from several exercises to go through and learn the basics of Tinkercad. I chose to go through the game piece exercise in which I made a pawn from a chess game on the program. I thought this was relevant to me because I am thinking about using Tinkercad and creating game pieces for my free inquiry project which is building a cribbage board. The more I think about it the more intrigued I am becoming, with Tinkercad you customize the design anyway you want. I was thinking about creating cribbage pegs on Tinkercad but having different animals on top of the pegs just to add a little bit of personality to the project. Before we were introduced to this program I had not thought of doing this, but now with the knowledge about the program I am thinking I may commit to doing this for my project. Here is me creating my chess pawn on Tinkercad:

Currently, I am in a seminar course at Esquimalt High School and their computer room and teacher actually uses Tinkercad as one of her EdTech tools to teach her courses. Students can create anything they want and print them off, using the 3D printers they have at the school. Learning how to use it ourselves is useful for potentially implementing the use of 3D design and printing into our classes. I think this is really interesting specifically for STEM courses and offering more practical courses and applications at the high school level.