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 Mineclass


In this unit, we learned about argument and went to visit several different Chicago aldermen. We talked about policy, elections, and making strong arguments. In this paper, I am proposing a class about city planning and history using the sandbox game, Minecraft.


Oftentimes, we stick with conventional forms of learning. We sit down in class, listen to a teacher and take notes, but we don’t often use the information we receive in a hands on way. Students often feel disconnected from what is actually being taught in school. Minecraft would allow students to apply their learning and build their own examples so that they can interact more with the material being taught. 


It is important for engaged members of society to learn about urban planning and political systems. The way Minecraft is designed allows for an in depth experience with trial and error surrounding a functional town with a class playing in the same virtual space. Teaching with Minecraft opens eyes to a different way of learning. The reason we go to school every day is to learn and to prepare to become competent members of society. In Minecraft multiplayer servers, players often find themselves forming alliances and naturally forming governments. Many servers that I'm in create automated systems and support for those who don't have the same resources as those who have played for a long time. Players have to plan in a very organic way. This can replicate how societies are formed.


As a student, I have the desire and the need to learn about the real world. After all, that is what we are supposed to be prepared for. Minecraft may not be real, but the socialization and systems involved are. Minecraft is an environment where one has to try to figure things out and how to make new productive systems. Oftentimes, there are servers filled with people who form groups and trade with others. Currencies tend to form naturally after a bit and this creates an organized social system.


How can we form an online environment with an organized system using Minecraft to learn? A short lesson about urban planning and policy would be taught at the beginning of class. Students will be expected to use that information to shape what they are doing in the class. They would write a paragraph at the end of class on how they used the lesson to change what they were doing and how the world reflects it. Students would decide where they want the world to be and will have to take in account safety, resources, and convenience.


Goals for Each Week

Week 1: Everyone having a shelter to stay in - students experience the importance of housing and having a place safe from environment

Week 2: Agriculture system - students learn about food resources and importance of accessible resources

Week 3: A trading system - students create basic economies

Week 4: Jobs - students learn about labor and its value

Week 5: Currency is formed  - students practice saving and sharing

Week 6: Elections and government officials - students create a government


Learning environments generally cater to a less interactive style of learning, but experiencing these subjects using Minecraft would allow for learning with a different set of applicable real world skills. Minecraft worlds could utilize city planning jobs that we learned about in this unit in a way that imitates city planning without the real life consequences. This would allow for trial and error without fear. 


In the late 19th Century, there was an industrial revolution. There became all sorts of automated systems and urban areas became much more structured. If used correctly, Minecraft can follow this too. There was a large shift from people mostly being farmers to working in other jobs. In minecraft, at the beginning almost everyone needs a farm to have a steady supply of food. As the world becomes more developed, people need to farm less and less. Eventually there are automated systems that do it for you.


The goals for the end of class

Form a lay out for a city/town in Minecraft


Set up a political system, taking in to account those who don't have the resources others may have


Form automated systems that provide food and supplies. 


Students have an understanding of the material being taught


Resources that would be used:

Minecraft and city planning

https://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2017/apr/05/public-appetite-for-new-tech-is-shaking-up-governments


Minecraft to teach programming

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.381.4045&rep=rep1&type=pdf


Minecraft used to develop public spaces

https://www.dezeen.com/2017/07/03/minecraft-designed-public-space-more-than-25-developing-countries-un-habitat-block-by-block/


City building in Minecraft

https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Tutorials/Building_a_metropolis


Urban planning in chicago

https://chicago.curbed.com/chicago-urban-planning


Les Pollock urban planner lpollock@camiros.com



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