Minecraft: Education Edition for Educational Impact

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Minecraft: Education Edition

for Educational Impact

A Research Report developed for Microsoft by Queensland University of

Technology¡¯s Digital Media Research Centre

Michael Dezuani and Jo Macri,

February 2020

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Executive Summary

3

Impact Tool

4

Key Recommendations

5

Part 1: Project Introduction

9

Education in Australian and Queensland

9

Research Process

10

Phase One: Existing M:EE materials for Grades 3 and 4 mathematics Education

10

Phase Two: Evaluation of the use of M:EE in six Queensland Schools

12

Part 2: School Profiles

20

School One (Brisbane North)

20

School Two (Brisbane South)

24

School Three (Toowoomba Region - rural)

30

School Four (Cairns Region - Far North Queensland)

34

School Five: Toowoomba City

39

School Six: Gold Coast

43

Part 3 - Overall Data

49

Teacher data - Findings

49

Student data - Findings

50

Presentation of teacher data

51

Presentation of student data

59

Appendices

Appendix 1: Minecraft Mathematics Lessons and Australian Curriculum

66

Alignment - Grade 3

2

Appendix 2: Minecraft Mathematics Lessons and Australian Curriculum

77

Alignment - Grade 4

Appendix 3: Number Pattern Learning Activity and Student Instructions

92

Appendix 4: Volume Learning Activity and Student Instructions

103

Appendix 5: Minecraft Teacher Survey

114

Appendix 6: Minecraft Student Survey

121

Appendix 7: Minecraft student focus group questions

123

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report was produced by researchers at Queensland University of Technology¡¯s Digital

Media Research Centre for the M:EE team at Microsoft. It outlines findings from research

conducted from October to December, 2019 in six Queensland Schools, with a focus on the

educational impact of using M:EE for mathematics education in grades 3 and 4.

The research gathered data from 307 students and 14 teachers located in a diverse selection

of schools, including two schools in Brisbane, one school at Gold Coast city, one school in

Toowoomba (a regional city), one school in a rural location in South East Queensland, and

one school in a rural location in Far North Queensland. Schools were chosen to ensure a

range of socio-economic status, and cultural and geographical diversity. The research mostly

involved teachers who had not previously used Minecraft either at home or in school. We

classify them as ¡®non-early adopter¡¯, or novice Minecraft educators. In contrast, almost all

the students had previously played Minecraft in some form.

The research involved two stages. In stage one, a thorough review of the M:EE mathematics

materials available for grades 3 and 4 was conducted to evaluate their alignment to the

Australian curriculum, and to make judgements about the suitability of the materials for

non-early adopter teachers. In stage two, a tool was used to assess the impact of using M:EE

in the six schools. Each school received a short teacher professional development and

planning session; and then teachers implemented a single mathematics activity. The

research team collected data during the implementation, and administered follow up

surveys and conducted interviews.

The research found that students overwhelmingly identified themselves as better

mathematics students when learning within Minecraft with M:EE resources. When asked

how they would generally rate themselves as a mathematics student, 80 of the 307 students

rated themselves as ¡®very good¡¯. Following the Minecraft lesson, when asked how they

would rate themselves as a mathematics student in Minecraft, 127 students rated

themselves as ¡®very good¡¯. This indicates a significantly greater number of students felt

confident when learning mathematics in Minecraft.

The students also overwhelmingly indicated they enjoyed Mathematics learning in

Minecraft (287 students), and that they would like to undertake Mathematics learning with

Minecraft in future (290 students). The research also showed that the teachers believed the

students¡¯ learning was enhanced when learning in Minecraft.

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On the teachers¡¯ side, the majority of teachers involved in the research indicated in the lead

up to the trial they were enthusiastic about trying out Minecraft in the classroom, despite

their lack of experience with it. Following the trial, the majority of teachers said they would

be keen to use M:EE resources again in the future. Some teachers indicated that if

improvements were made, they would be more likely to use M:EE in future. A small number

of teachers did not enjoy the experience, and indicated they would not try Minecraft in class

again.

The trial identified two key barriers to teachers¡¯ use of M:EE. Firstly, technological

challenges were a significant barrier and the majority of the classes experienced difficulties

with connecting to M:EE and downloading worlds onto local machines and devices.

Secondly, the design of the M:EE learning materials could be improved. The review of the

M:EE mathematics materials and worlds for Grades 3 and 4 mathematics indicated that

many could provide clearer and more consistent guidance for non-early adopter teachers.

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