Overview

The lesson below is an example of something I created to help educators understand how to infuse Minecraft Education into their classrooms. The example is using the science concept of circuits and switches to demonstrate how we can infuse maker mentality, STEM, experimentation, and Minecraft Education to strengthen understanding of concepts.

More importantly, the key idea through all of this is that we are not spending all of our time in any one area. Rather, we are diversifying our time and learning environments to strenghthen our understanding of concepts by having students apply their learning to various platforms. Something that is really important to understand when teaching with Minecraft Education is that you are not in Minecraft Education all the time. It is one element to a robust learning journey to solidify the learning process.

Topic: Circuits and Switches

NGSS Focus

Description

In this lesson, participants will undergo a STEM project to understand how Minecraft Education and STEM can go hand in hand. The session is designed for the participants to see that using Minecraft Education does not mean we spend the whole time in the game, rather it is used to demonstrate proficiency of a concept. In this example, participants will build a flashlight using copper tape, LED light, binder clip, and popsicle stick to understand how energy can be transferred to power on the LED light using a switch. Once they understand how a circuit and switch operate, they will then be asked to demonstrate their understanding of a circuit using redstone, switches, and beacons to turn lights on and off in MCEE.

Learning Targets

• Participants will understand how to design a STEM lesson infusing making, hands on learning and MCEE.
• Participants will demonstrate their knowledge of a circuit.
• Participants will create two working models of a flashlight – analog and digital.
• Participants will demonstrate their knowledge of the NGSS standard listed above

Note: This is not setup as a classroom lesson that runs 60 minutes. Rather, this is how I would run a session/workshop to showcase to educators how we can infuse STEM, making, and Minecraft Education into the classroom to create quality learning conditions.

If I were in the classroom, I would start with a quick warm up activity of making a LED throwie, having conversation and exploring how this simple circuit works.

From there I would then introduce copper tape to create a square circuit to expand the idea followed up by making a switch by folding the corner of cardstock. 

Finally, I would provide the material list for the LED Popsicle Flashlight and have them work to engineer a working flashlight.

Once we discussed, shared our solutions, discussed more in depth about energy and the transfer of energy, we would then dive into Minecraft as seen below.

Time Estimation	Activity	Screenshot
00:00 – 00:10	Introduction Objectives Play Cycle Driving Question: “How do we create our own superhero beacon signal?”
00:10 – 00:30	Make a Flashlight Explore how a circuit works Explore how a switch works
00:30 – 00:50	Superhero Beacon Signal in MCEE Whole Group Walkthrough Provide Time to have them personalize using stained glass, direction, and overall look	Tip – To change color of beacon you can place stained glass blocks on top of beacon. You can also add patterns of stained glass to have multiple of colors as well. To place a block on top of beacon you hold SHIFT+Right Click.
00:50 – 01:00	Group Discussion about Classroom Application Group Discussion about Lesson Design Private Reasoning Time for Classroom Use Closure

Part 1: LED Flashlight Tutorial

Part 2: Minecraft Flashlight Tutorial