Recently our Technology Integration Specialist Jennifer Wivagg held her first Lunch and Learnfor faculty, an informal professional development hour in where teachers explore a learning technology. On November 5th, teachers learned about Minecraft and it’s uses in education. Minecraft is wildly popular with kids, and it makes sense – you have total freedom to build, create and destroy structures, lands, and the systems that support them, defying laws of physics to create fantastical 3D creations as the architect of your own world. Along the way, you make decisions and problem-solve. Currently Dr. Wivagg runs a Friday session for sixth graders using the “edu” mode of Minecraft, which allows teachers to add assignments and students to work together in a safe multi-player mode. The participants in the Lunch and Learnhad a variety of familiarity with Minecraft walking in; by the end of the session, teachers were excited about possibilities. Dr. Wivagg is currently taking apart some old computers and turning them into Minecraft servers, and she plans to hold future Lunch and Learn sessions on Google Apps as well as robots.
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