Madly Learning

221: Are You Really Going to Let Us Play Video Games in Class? Minecraft in the Social Studies Classroom

Have your students ever complained that they can’t play video games in your classroom? Mine did, and it gave me an idea for a classroom activity that I knew they would love. 

This is the story of how we ended up playing Minecraft in my classroom to learn about social studies. 

My students were shocked when I said yes to letting them play video games in class, and because I listened to them and let them lead, they were engaged in the project right from the start. 

Now, I didn’t just set my students loose on the computers and let them do whatever they wanted. We talked as a class about the curriculum expectations for their project on the global community, they created a plan for how to demonstrate the curriculum expectations in Minecraft, and then they did it! 

I even learned a thing or two about Minecraft along the way. 

In Today’s Episode We Discuss:

What I learned from this experience is how important it is to lean into my students’ suggestions every now and then. Pay attention to comments your students make in class and give them the power to decide what they want to do. Your class will have a great time, and you probably will too!

If you want to see the outline of our Minecraft activity and the steps we followed to implement it, go to www.madlylearning.com/minecraft to grab the project outline for free!

Resources Mentioned:

Get the Minecraft Project Outline for Free 

Additional Resources:

Listen on Your Favorite Podcast Platform

Follow the Podcast

Follow Along on Instagram

Follow Along on Facebook 

Don’t forget you can always catch the show on the Madly Learning YouTube channel!

Other Episodes You’ll Enjoy:

220: So You Need to Do Guided Instruction… What the Heck Should You Do With the Rest of Your Class?

219: Stop Taking Your Marking Home

218: Ideas for Teaching Middle School Writing with Celeste From Teaching Tomorrow

Follow & Review on Apple Podcasts

Are you following my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today so you don’t miss any future episodes! Click here to follow on Apple Podcasts. If you are loving the podcast, I would LOVE it if you would leave me a review on  Apple Podcasts.

Watch This Episode on YouTube:

Watch this week’s episode below, or head on over to my YouTube channel to watch this episode and many more!

Exit mobile version