Video games are usually something children do when they get home from school, but students at Truganina’s Garrang Wilam Primary are playing them in the classroom.
As school learning specialist, Kara Claver, explained, the game is assisting students with their studies rather than distracting them.
“To engage them in this geography unit, we’ve used Minecraft Education to allow students to build the community and landscapes,” said Ms Claver, who adds that the results so far suggest the approach is working.
“Students are a lot more engaged” she said of the geography project where students across all year levels are helping to build their own town.
“They’re not just building things that they would want, but things that would actually help a community like a vet, a library, playgrounds etc.
It’s teaching them what a community needs, especially a growing community.”
Given that they live in one of the fastest growing area of the country, Garrang Wilam students are already well aware of these needs, something Kara Claver said was reflected in their work.
“Students have identified things that we’re missing in our community such as a swimming pool, a local bus and that they have to travel a long way to get to a shopping centre.”
The students build the community using school iPads while also learning about information security, online safety and how to use Minecraft appropriately.
Ms Claver said it was the first time Garrang Wilam had used Minecraft or any other game to assist with student learning and indicated it wouldn’t be the last.
“We’ve definitely opened it up for other aspects (other than geography), it’s now open for us to explore.
We’re always looking for another way to engage our students and try something new.”
Garrang Wilam Primary runs school tours weekly.
For more information, visit:garrangwilamps.vic.edu.au/
Cade Lucas.
