Virtual Worlds: Learning about history through Minecraft

My recent exploration of virtual worlds has helped me to really appreciate the ‘wonderful variety of ways’ they have been used for education (Bower, 2017 p. 314). Being a history teacher, I have been particularly interested in considering how virtual worlds can been used to help students learn about ancient civilisations. Bertacchini & Tavernise (2016) for example, used virtual words to increase the accessibility of archaeological and so encourage interest in cultural heritage. Similarly, Mikropoulos (2006) used virtual worlds to reconstruct of ancient architecture, fostering a sense of involvement through presence.

To explore virtual worlds more, I decided focus on Minecraft: Education, an ‘open-world game’ hosted online that ‘that promotes creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving in an immersive environment’ (https://education.minecraft.net/). Users work to ‘build’ a virtual world by creating the building block pixels and placing them one by one. The game has famously been used to recreate famous structures from popular culture and so have been curious to see how it could be used as a tool in helping students learn about structures from the ancient world.

Minecraft Education - Retrieved from https://education.minecraft.net/

To this end, I visited the website for Minecraft: Education (https://education.minecraft.net/) and selected History Blocks (Francisco Tupy) a featured, pre-prepared lesson to consider in detail. The lesson’s two objectives: building ‘an awareness of historical heritage’ and developing ‘an understanding of the aesthetic and cultural qualities of historic sites’ are achieved by students carrying out research on a UNESCO World Heritage Site and reconstructing it using Minecraft. When the reconstruction is complete, students act as ‘tour guides’ and lead a ‘class walk through’ of the completed site. A consideration of this lesson suggests significant benefits in the use of Minecraft for learning about the past but also raises important factors to address.

History Blocks - Retrieved from: https://education.minecraft.net/lessons/history-blocks/

One of the biggest benefits using Minecraft in History Blocks is perhaps its ability to facilitate the ‘doing of history (Zhang, 2019). Loewen (2018) proposes that while ‘doing history’ involves gathering information through the critical analysis and evaluation of sources, one develops a storyline and ‘marshals the information on behalf of that storyline’ while attending to contradictory information (p. 91). In History Blocks the learner gathers historical information about their site, figurative ‘building blocks’ they then ‘marshal’ in Minecraft to reconstruct the ‘storyline’ of the past in a form of a site that can be experienced in a visual, 3D manner. This ‘doing’ of history is significant. It makes the past ‘come alive’ for students (Loewen, 2018) and as Zhang (2019) found when conducting research into activities similar to History Blocks, promotes deep interest, engagement and ultimately learning. 

Big Goose Pagoda in Minecraft (right) According to Historical Drawings (left) - Retrieved from: Zhang, G. (2019). Virtual simulation for history education. 2019 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR) (pp. 1646-1651).

A factor to address when using Minecraft in this context is ensuring that appropriate and adequate initial research is carried out. The alluring nature of Minecraft means that attention will be drawn to the construction phase and learners will be tempted to rush through or skip initial research. This phase is critical to provide a historical foundation and without it the potential for historical learning is compromised. The teacher has an important role to play as a research guide and facilitator.  As Craft (2016) suggests, high school students are typically not highly competent in performing research and do not readily have the means to practice. It therefore may be a good idea to focus on well-known and documented buildings ensure ease of access to material. Compiling and providing relevant information in an easy to access format along with a structured guide would further facilitate research. Producing videos with demonstration and explanation would also help reinforce research skills and supplement student efforts.

References:

Bower, M. (2017). Design of technology-enhanced learning - Integrating research and practice. Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing Group.

Bertacchini, F., & Tavernise, A. (2016). NetConnect virtual worlds: Results of a learning experience. In S. Gregory, M. J. W. Lee, B. Dalgarno, & B. Tynan (Eds.), Learning in virtual worlds: Research and applications (pp. 227-240). Athabasca: Athabasca University Press.

Craft, J. (2016). Rebuilding an empire with Minecraft: Bringing the classics into the digital space. Classical Journal 111(3), 347-364.

Loewen, J. W. (2013). Teaching what really happened: How to avoid the tyranny of textbooks and get students excited about doing history. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Mikropoulos, T. A. (2006). Presence: A unique characteristic in educational virtual environments. Virtual Reality, 10, 197-206.

Tupy, F. (n.d.). History blocks. Retrieved October 26, 2019, from https://education.minecraft.net/lessons/history-blocks/

Zhang, G. (2019). Virtual simulation for history education. 2019 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR) (pp. 1646-1651).

Comparing and Contrasting Anti-Cyberbullying Resources

Figure 1 - The Lost Summer

According to Bower (2017), Cyberbullying is a concern that arises when using social networking systems for educational purposes. Consequently, pre-emptive education plays an important role in maintaining a student’s cybersafety (DeSmet et al., 2015). The Australian Government’s ‘eSafety Commissioner’ website hosts a number of resources to combat cyberbullying that are intended for use and consumption by

Figure 2 - Rewrite your Story 

children and teens in an educational context (https://www.esafety.gov.au). Two examples are the role playing video game ‘The Lost Summer’ and video series ‘Rewrite Your Story’. While both resources seek to use empathy to educate high school students about the dangers of cyberbullying and prepare them to deal with its impact in their life, they do so utilising significantly different mediums and methods.

Figure 3 - The Lost Summer, Chapter Summary

A key feature of both The Lost Summer and Rewrite Your Story is their use of empathy to teach about the issue of Cyberbullying. Bullying has been linked to a lack of empathy and studies have suggested that empathy training can be used to reduce bullying behaviours (Hicks, Le Clair & Berry, 2016).

In the educational game The Lost Summer, students are confronted with a challenges such as social media conflict and fake news, students need to use various skills in order to support other characters, progress through the game and overcome challenges. Empathy, according to the eSafety Commissioner, is an aspect of ‘Digital Intelligence’ that is a key focus of the game. Students are taught about ‘being empathetic to others and using emotional intelligence to respect opinions, embrace diversity of opinion and freedom of speech’ (eSafety Commissioner,  n.d.).  

Figure 4 - Summary of Rewrite your Story Episode: Alexia's Story

Similarly, Rewrite your Story, is a video based program that uses empathy to educate high school students about cyberbullying. The program entails students exploring real-life cyberbullying stories that provide advice on how to handle difficult situations. Students also engage in class based activities that promote empathy through self-reflection and discussion. The program is designed to provide guidance when needed so students are empowered to be ‘courageous in the face of cyberbullying’ and provide help and support to their friends (eSafety Commissioner,  n.d.)

While The Lost Summer and Rewrite your Story are similar in their focus on empathy as a vehicle for learning, they differ in the medium used to engage high school students. The Lost Summer could be considered a ‘serious game’, one that is designed ‘to be both entertaining and provide instruction, training or achieve attitude change’ (Blumberg, Almonte, Anthony, & Hashimoto, 2013). Students access the game via a computer or mobile device and play as various characters, representing young people and completing quests assigned to them. The game format is designed to provide a learning environment that enables students to rehearse real-life scenarios and challenges safely (eSafety Commissioner,  n.d.). ‘Serious games’ have been shown by studies to be ‘effective in promoting healthy lifestyles’ and have been successfully used in a range of other anti-cyberbullying interventions. (DeSmet et al., 2018).

Figure 5 - Screenshort example of The Lost Summer gameplay

Rewrite your Story differs in its use of video and self-reflection as a medium to explore the issue of cyberbullying. The program involves students watching a series of two minute video clips that presents a story of cyberbullying narrated from the point of view of the young person involved. Students then engage in an interactive online quiz that breaks down the issue presented in the video and promotes self-reflection. The choice of video as a medium is interesting, as Doane, Kelley & Pearson (2015) point out, cyberbullying prevention programs have largely relied on in‐person instruction. However videos have been used in a range of prevention programs across other fields and prevention programs that include videos have been shown to be effective in increasing empathy toward victims (Doane, Kelley & Pearson, 2015).   

Figure 6 - Extract from Rewrite your Story, Teacher Materials

In all, The Lost Summer and Rewrite your Story provide good examples of anti-cyberbullying resources that use very similar methods to help students understand the issue and yet do so through very different mediums. While promoting empathy is the common utilised by both to engage students and help them understand the personal impact of cyberbullying, the former achieves this through the use of a ‘serious’ game while the latter do so through video and self-reflection.   

References

Bower, M. (2017). Design of technology-enhanced learning - Integrating research and practice. London, UK: Emerald Publishing.

Blumberg, F. C., Almonte, D. E., Anthony, J. S., & Hashimoto, N. (2012). Serious games: What are they? What do they do? Why should we play them? The Oxford handbook of media psychology, 334-351. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195398809.013.0019.

eSafety Commissioner (n.d) Education Resources. Retrieved October 15, 2019, From https://esafety.gov.au/education-resources

DeSmet, A., Bastiaensens, S., Cleemput, K., van Poels, K., Vandebosch, H., Deboutte, G., ... de Bourdeaudhuij, I. (2018). The efficacy of the Friendly Attac serious digital game to promote prosocial bystander behavior in cyberbullying among young adolescents: A cluster-randomized controlled trial. Computers in Human Behavior, 78, 336–347. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.10.011

Doane, A. N., Kelley, M. L., & Pearson, M. R. (2016). Reducing cyberbullying: A theory of reasoned action-based video prevention program for college students. Aggressive Behavior, 42, 136–146. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21610.

Hicks, J. F., Le Clair, B., & Berry, S. (2016). Using solution-focused dramatic empathy training to eliminate cyber-bullying. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 11(3–4), 378–390. https://doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2016.1172533.