Learning About History Through Minecraft
by Michael Reynolds
Minecraft is a game that millions across the world play every single day. Being the world’s biggest videogame, it’s proven to be a source of entertainment for many people of many ages. The game lets you create anything you desire, in your own unique world. This opens up the opportunity to use Minecraft for educational purposes. An amazing idea that teacher Stephane Cloatre thought of was to implement minecraft into creating historical sites nearby her school. This created an interactive and fun learning experience for all her students.
Minecraft is an excellent way to learn and engage with history. Like Cloatre’s class, recreating structures from history is a brilliant way to engage with history. By not only learning about historical structures, but recreating them yourself in Minecraft, it’s a fun way to keep students interested in history. This also can help students be more creative, as they work to design and recreate the historical structure in Minecraft, which isn’t too easy, requiring planning and possible blueprinting. It’s a tool that could help refresh students in the classroom and let them have fun while learning.
Minecraft in historical education is not only a refreshing way for students to learn in the classroom, but it’s something that could creatively expand students’ knowledge of their history, whether it’s local or world history. The limits are endless, and a game like Minecraft shows that with the outstanding efforts millions put into creating their own worlds, or recreating our world, in a virtual environment.
Same, Same But Different
An Inspirational Story that shows how there are no limits to communication across the globe.
The Story Same, Same but Different, by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw, is such an excellent example of welcoming diversity and showing that communication has no limits in our world today.
Elliot from America is pen pals with Kailash in India. The two become good friends, even if they’re across the globe from each other. They talk to each other about their daily lives, how different each of them are from each other, and what each of their cultures, schools, and families are like. Its an excellent example to represent how different everyone is across the world, and is a great read for students who need to understand this concept.
I would recommend this to teachers, or would assign this to my own students one day, to help them understand how diverse the world is. Being from different places in the world doesn’t limit you to being friends with someone. And being in different cultures doesn’t prevent you from knowing someone else. This is a great reading concept for any student who hasn’t expanded much out of their culture or lifestyle, and young readers who are maybe in 2nd, 3rd, or 4th grade may benefit from this book greatly.
Helping students learn about others that live differently than themselves can help create an environment that accepts everyone, not only in a classroom, but in whole schools and even towns. It will help create a better future for not only students, but the communities they live in as well.
Written by Michael Reynolds
Sources:
Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw. (2015). Same, same but different. Weston Woods.
Collaboration & Ending Global Poverty
Article by the Borgen Project. Blog Written by Michael Reynolds
Global Poverty is something that has never found a major solution to solve. Countless attempts to significantly lessen or end global poverty have not worked out in the best favors, and new direction is needed immediately.
The Borgen Project addresses these facts and points into the direction of a core solution to this issue: Collaborative Efforts.
“Addressing this complex issue requires a multifaceted approach that goes beyond traditional methods.”
“One promising approach is the power of collaborative efforts. By bringing together governments, NGOs, businesses and individuals, there is a good chance of working out a comprehensive fabric of solutions to resolve global poverty.”
Yuki. (2023, September 29). How Collaborative Efforts Can Address Global Poverty. The Borgen Project. https://borgenproject.org/stitching-together-a-solution-how-collaborative-efforts-can-address-global-poverty/
Collaborative efforts can not only help lessen poverty faster than any other method, but the sheer diversity and involvement from countless people around the globe, working for one cause, can be the truest factor in making this a success. When people from all experiences, all regions of the world, collaborate to fix one issue, there isn’t a doubt that it will be successful.
Not only that, but multiple case studies, examined by the Borgen Project, have been made to prove that this effort will be successful, and all that is missing is the will to collaborate, and save countless people in this world today.
The challenge of global poverty is one of the biggest on this Earth, but with collaboration from many around our globe, it’s an issue no match for our collaborative efforts.
Source:
Yuki. (2023, September 29). How Collaborative Efforts Can Address Global Poverty. The Borgen Project. https://borgenproject.org/stitching-together-a-solution-how-collaborative-efforts-can-address-global-poverty/