Things from the futures Minecraft: Education Edition

Minecraft is a video game that allows players to construct out of textured cubes a three-dimensional world. Activities include exploration, resource gathering, and creating. Microsoft acquired Minecraft in 2014, and it has since been ported to various platforms. Also, it is the best-selling video game of all time, with 200 million copies sold across all platforms and 126 million monthly active users as of 2020.

Well, research has shown our brains are “wired for pleasure, ” and that games constitute an effective way of learning as they simulate adventure and keep our brains engaged and happy. In this context, Minecraft is no longer a new tool in the field of game-based learning.

The game promotes creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving in an immersive environment where the only limit is the limit of your imagination.

CLASSROOM BUILD CHALLENGE: “Things from the Futures”

  • TIME 20-30 min
  • SKILLS Futures Literacy, Creativity, Collaboration, Problem Solving
  • Download WORLD

OBJECTIVES

Work individually or in teams to imagine and create things from different futures.

HOW TO PLAY

Discover the Oracle and visit all the 4 temples to collect hints about the “thing from the future”:

1.ARC (Green Temple): Outlines the type of future world that the “thing” comes from, and how far away. There are 4 types of ARC futures:

  • Growth: a Future in which progress has continued.
  • Collapse: a Future in which society as we know it has come apart.
  • Discipline: a Future in which order is coordinated or imposed.
  • Transformation: a Future in which a profound historical evolution has occurred.

2.TERRAIN (Blue Temple): Provides the thematic context or location where the object could be found in that Future.

3.OBJECT (Orange Temple): Is the focus of your imagination. An artifact that reveals something about how this future is different from today.

4.MOOD (Purple Temple): Suggests how it might feel to experience this thing from the Future.

Challenge yourself by discovering and creating as many things as you can from the future within a time limit.

 EXTENSIONS

  • Use a camera to take pictures of your creations and share them with your class. You can also send them to futures@praxinetwork.gr or share them through social media using the #MinecraftThingsFromTheFutures
  • Consider what type these futures look like.
  • Write a paragraph about what you built and why. How does that future look like? What else do you expect to take place in that future?
  • Use the structure block to export your designs and use a 3D printer to create models of each.

The lesson is brought to you by the UNESCO Chair on Futures Research in FORTH (www.futures.gr). The world was inspired in the “Thing from the Future” game developed by the Situation Lab.

The MINECRAFT world constructed by Harry Christophilopoulos.

 

 

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