Minecraft + Math

[Mr. A]

Hey all! I'm a teacher near Toronto. I got hooked on MC just before
Christmas and I'm pleased to say that a good portion of my grade 6s
are now building rail tracks instead of murdering each other in Call
of Duty and the like.

Would be interested in getting your ideas about how to integrate MC
into math. Found some good ideas on the PBwiki site, but I've been
thinking of others.

Number Sense
I think the crafting grid really lends itself well to division and
multiplication.
Rate and Ratio (raw wood : planks = 1:4 ratio)

Patterning and Algebra
Basic algebra like "iron bars ÷ 9 = a certain # of cubes": ( i ÷ 9 =
8cubes); how many iron bars did i start out with?

Geometric patterns could be lain out and students a) have to identify
the pattern and b) find out how many iterations it could undergo with
a limited number of cubes.

Measurement
Perimeter, area, volume, surface area. Pretty self explanatory.

Geometry:
?

Data Management/Probability
Oh, just thought of a good one for this. Dispensers! "What is the
probability an egg will pop out of the dispenser"; could be buggy
because i heard there was a higher chance of the lower right corner
dispensing. Still...

Would love to see some of your ideas!
Chris

[Lucas Gillispie]

These are great mathematics ideas!  I suggest adding them to the wiki to see if others have ideas or might expand on them.

-Lucas

--
Lucas Gillispie
PCS Instructional Technology Coordinator
M.S. Instructional Technology
Webmaster, http://www.pcs-tech.net & http://www.edurealms.com
On Twitter:  PCSTech

[NJA]

Hi, Chris! I'm the other Mr. A. I am a computer teacher and math tutor, working on a masters in secondary math ed (in NY).

 

First, what ages/levels are we talking about here? I see you mention 6th grade. Do you happen to have a copy of or link to the Ontario standards?

 

 

Number Sense
I think the crafting grid really lends itself well to division and
multiplication.
Rate and Ratio (raw wood : planks = 1:4 ratio)

 

I think these concepts are built into the game and over time, students will grasp the concepts as second nature. Not all of them, by any means, and if you wanted to do a more focused activity, here's some preliminary thoughts. Ramblings mostly. Maybe some kind of gradual release or responsibility activity in which students are shown how to create something, help to create something, create something while you help, and finally create something on their own. They should be answering reflection questions the whole way. Though multiplication and division are essentially the same operation, I'm sure the kids don't see that yet. Maybe framing the activity in a way that stresses multiplication and later doing the same thing in a way that stresses division - will they see the connection?

 

You can drill tables as well:

 

2's (Planks -> Sticks)

3's (Planks -> Slabs)

4's (Planks -> Crafting Tables)

5's (Planks -> Stairs)

6's (Planks -> Doors)

7's (The only thing I can think of offhand is pants)

8's (Planks -> Chests, Cobblestone -> Furnaces)

9's (Crafting blocks from ingots)

 

Patterning and Algebra
Basic algebra like "iron bars ÷ 9 = a certain # of cubes": ( i ÷ 9 =
8cubes); how many iron bars did i start out with?

 

I think the above addresses this. It's probably okay to kill a few birds with a lesson, right?

 

Measurement
Perimeter, area, volume, surface area. Pretty self explanatory.

 

This has been the lesson I have been thinking about (I'll write more on this later - I have a class now).

 

Geometry:
?

Geometry becomes hard because you're limited to the cubic framework of the game. This makes doing anything with circles difficult. Well, anything that doesn't use 90° angles becomes difficult to model. This is another aspect of the lesson I am thinking about.

 

I would really like to see what concepts your kids are having trouble with and what you want to see them master using Minecraft as an aid.

[Joel (Minecraft Teacher)]

Great ideas!  I need to show these to our math teachers.

I had a thought about your idea for a probability exercise.  You are correct, currently dispensers DO NOT spit out items randomly.  As you stated, there is a bias towards the lower right corner.  But this could still be a good lesson.  Have the kids experiment with the dispensers to either prove or disprove that they are random.  Sometimes disproving an assumption is the most powerful thing you can do in a classroom.

Keep the ideas coming!

~Joel

[Noah Appleton]

Good evening, gentlemen (and ladies?):

Re: dispensers - you can teach kids the difference between experimental probability and theoretical probability. This would be great for some of my students. I've never actually written out a lesson plan (can I say that on tape?), but I'd like put together something for this.

I love the idea of starting a high-school club. My district is woefully behind the curve when it comes to both its machines and its policies, and I envy your abilities to actually run Minecraft in the classroom. For me, minecraft.net is actually blocked by my district's web filter.

Reason:

GAMES.

/facepalm.

In the meantime, until the powers that be let me even install and run Java on the machines in my lab, I'm always happy to help build and plan.

That said, something like the wiki would go a long way towards getting game-o-phobes on board.

[Mr. A]

Great ideas, everyone. I'm in the same boat as you, Noah. I can't
access MC because of our board's filtering policy, but I'm just here
to sort of think long term about it with an eye to running an
experimental program in the future. The fact that kids can access
such a blatant advertising site like candystand.com but teachers (and
site admins) are prevented from MC access speaks to a continued
misunderstanding of the web's possibilities.

Joel, I was thinking about the whole experimental v. theoretical
probability piece. I think you're bang-on about how it could lead to a
greater understanding about the nature of randomness. It also opens
up the conversation of bias, and who knows where it could go from
there. Pretty cool.

Another cool patterning/algebra problem that just occurred to me:
Experimenting with a water course to find out how to maximize distance
of the river given a certain block height. Hard to articulate at the
moment (in a marking haze) but check it out:

You have an enclosure with a pool of water. The goal is to get the
water to a hole at the end of the course (water golf?) You have to
find the optimal slope of the course in order to get the water there.
Ack, don't know why I'm having a hard time explaining this today.
Rainy Saturday blahs?

[Mr. A]

Sorry, Noah mentioned the types of probability and it was Joel who
mentioned bias. Meant to give you both credit for my ramblings!

On May 14, 1:34 pm, "Mr. A" <anderson_christop...@durham.edu.on.ca>
wrote:

[Alex Woolner]

We have pupils accessing single player minecraft offline, and are now approaching those who filter for access to multiplayer, as this is where we feel the social benefits for pupils lie.

--
www.pandigital.org.uk

[Alex Woolner]

Joel

Would one visual way to help teach kids crafting in the tutorial world be to lay the ingredient blocks on the floor in the shape required to craft them. If you make this pattern go down several layers (like a stick of rock) they can still refer back to it having mined the first layer to craft with.

 

Alex

--
www.pandigital.org.uk

[Joel Levin]

That's a really clever idea.  The only problem I can think of is that not all crafting ingredients are blocks that can be placed.  For example, sticks.  So I'd need to find a way to represent them.

I wonder if there is just a way to do it with signs arranged in a grid....   hmmm...

[James Yale]

Hello chaps,

Not a teacher here but a Network Administrator and Minecraft player in
a school where we've been doing SMP Minecraft with our (computer) game
club. We've got hold of a class full of licenses and host a server in
school which is white listed and can be connected to from outside
school so the students can carry on playing in their own time if they
want to.

Just chipping in to say that if you'd like some technical backup when
approaching your education authorities, or whoever filters your
Internet or might prevent you from getting a server/clients up and
running then I'm happy to pitch in and help address any technical
concerns they might have.

Thanks,

James Yale
j.y...@wildern.hants.sch.uk

[Pandigital]

Hi James

I am currently going through the process of getting MC unblocked with
a uk local authority. We have single player running on windows via the
batch file hack and we have installed the server on a school machine
which sees us when we try to connect but does not let us connect.
What would be really useful is a description of what needs to be
unblocked so I can clarify my request to the authority. Servers etc
are not my area of expertise so if you have a description of what
needs to talk to what that would be great.

Alex

On 16 May 2011, at 14:54, James Yale <j.y...@wildern.hants.sch.uk>
wrote: