MINECRAFT WORKSHOPS

Harness the enduring popularity of Minecraft to learn and apply knowledge of history, culture and archictecture.

Context:

Minecraft is a global phenomenon that is played by over 130 million users worldwide. This ‘sandbox’ video game allows players to create and explore 3D worlds while crafting items, buildings and creatures to inhabit these worlds. 

We use Minecraft to engage children and young people with an educational task. Taking influence from a theme, setting or even a link to a local area, we can create bespoke challenges and activities that will educate and entertain in equal measures.

A typical workshop lasts around 90 minutes and can accommodate up to 32 people and we provide all course materials and pre-build any required base structures in Minecraft.

Example Workshop: Roman Forts

The aim of this hands-on, practical workshop is to give participants a basic awareness of the realities of living in a Roman fort, including living conditions, types of structures that would be present and pastimes that would be available to them. We also discuss what building materials would be available to them and how they would have used them. The end goal of the workshop is to build an accurate Roman fort in Minecraft.

Objectives:

• Offer an understanding of what types of buildings would be present in Roman times and what they would have been used for.
• Give information on different building materials the Romans would have used so the students may apply it to their builds, encouraging the students to think critically about what to use in Minecraft for their buildings.
• Encourage the students to consider what life may have been like for someone living in a Roman fort. Use visual resources as inspiration for virtual building.

Impact on learning and Curriculum links:

Minecraft workshops can support a wide variety of historical themes, from Greek gods and Egyptian temples to life in Medieval, Victorian or Tudor Britain.

• Local History
• British History
• Anglo Saxons
• Roman Empire
• Ancient Greece
• Ancient Egypt
• The Vikings
• Medieval Britain
• Mesoamerican architecture

Differentiation:

The content of our Minecraft workshops can be tailored to the class via the level of historical detail discussed and the complexity of the Minecraft build.