The Year 8s at Aquinas College are Minecraft mad at the moment. Perhaps they’ve been Minecraft mad for years, but there was no doubt that the prospect of using Minecraft as a learning tool in Religious Education during Term 2 this year tantalised the minds of our Year 8 students.

There’s no question of Minecraft’s appeal, especially to Middle School aged boys. Whatever you make is only really bound by your imagination. It’s those endless possibilities that make Minecraft Education Edition an ideal tool for learning in Religious Education this term, as we look at the themes of Creation and Stewardship.

The engagement by our Year 8 students has exceeded expectations. Students were informed that they would be placed in groups at random in their respective Religious Education classes, as a means to help develop their Collaboration and Communication skills, two of the five twenty-first century learning skills that teaching staff across all learning areas will continue to develop in Middle School through Project-Based Learning. Being placed in groups of three or four at random did present an initial challenge to students as it meant being placed outside of comfort zones. This was done primarily to dissuade students from a “play” mentality. Minecraft, at its core, is a game. In order to move from a “play” mindset to a “project” mindset, placing students in groups at random was a necessary step. This is not to say, however, that our Year 8s will not be having fun. Fortunately, this has borne much fruit. It has been very pleasing to see our Year 8 students working collaboratively and using their maturing communication skills to achieve a common goal and see the bigger picture.

Students were given the freedom to choose between a number of Creation stories: The Fall, The Tower of Babel, Cain and Abel, and Noah’s Ark. In each of these stories are valuable lessons about the responsibilities mankind has towards creation, namely as regards our relationship with God, each other, ourselves, and the rest of creation. The students’ objective will be to - through their builds and subsequent presentation using iMovie - convey these learnings.

So why Minecraft? The creative aspect of Minecraft will encourage students to care for what they have had a hand in making, and there will be a sense of satisfaction that stems from tracking the progress of their work and subsequently completing it. Creativity and Accomplishment are core elements of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, i.e. Self-Actualisation and Esteem. Students become more efficient learners when given opportunities to be creative and when progress is tangible. When the bigger picture becomes more apparent, students will be able to clearly associate their creative and collaborative experiences with syllabus content.

Our Year 8 students will produce something of substance and spectacle. It is hoped that a number of student projects will go on display for the entire College community to see.