Minecraft: Education Edition for Educational Impact - Research

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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

Executive Summary

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Impact Tool

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Key Recommendations

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Part 1: Project Introduction

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Education in Australian and Queensland

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Research Process

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

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

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Part 2: School Profiles

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School One (Brisbane North)

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School Two (Brisbane South)

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School Three (Toowoomba Region - rural)

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School Four (Cairns Region - Far North Queensland)

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School Five: Toowoomba City

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School Six: Gold Coast

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Part 3 - Overall Data

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Teacher data - Findings

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Student data - Findings

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Presentation of teacher data

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Presentation of student data

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Appendices

Appendix 1: Minecraft Mathematics Lessons and Australian Curriculum

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Alignment - Grade 3

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Appendix 2: Minecraft Mathematics Lessons and Australian Curriculum

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Alignment - Grade 4

Appendix 3: Number Pattern Learning Activity and Student Instructions

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Appendix 4: Volume Learning Activity and Student Instructions

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Appendix 5: Minecraft Teacher Survey

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Appendix 6: Minecraft Student Survey

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Appendix 7: Minecraft student focus group questions

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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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