by Stone Marshall | Jan 5, 2019 | Awesome Book News, Free, Intro, Minecraft News, Minecraft questions, news, parent-news, State of Stone, Stone Marshall Book News, Stone Marshall Books, Stone Marshall Club, Stone Marshall Minecraft Adventures, Uncategorized |
The immersive game-based platform is being used to help students develop 21st century skills, writes Balqis Lim
MOHAMMAD Aliff Othman begins to choke up as he talks about his students’ development.
That’s how passionate this 29-year-old teacher is in making a difference in the children’s life.
A Geography subject teacher, Aliff uses Minecraft: Education Edition in his classroom to explain certain topics during a lesson.
He says that instead of “chalk and talk”, Minecraft is very good to engage students in class. It also boosts the students creativity and enhances their 21st century skills, he adds.
Minecraft, developed in 2011 by a Swedish company Mojang, is a game that allows players to build with a variety of different blocks in a 3D procedurally-generated world.
After acquiring Mojang in 2014, Microsoft also bought over MinecraftEdu that was developed by TeacherGaming, and launched a new version of Minecraft in 2016 that’s dedicated to learning. It’s called Minecraft: Education Edition.
MINECRAFT IN MALAYSIA
MRSM Tun Mohammad Fuad Stephens in Sandakan, Sabah was the first school in the country to adopt the Minecraft: Education Edition.
Aliff, who was teaching at the school, first learned about Minecraft: Education Edition last year while attending a Microsoft Education Exchange event.
On returning to Malaysia, he gathered some students to try it out.
“As I am not a gamer, I had my students teach me the technical parts of playing it.
“These students were the naughty ones but instead of punishing them, I gave them this task,” says Aliff, who is now a certified Minecraft Global Trainer.
Students using Minecraft in class.
At the first Minecraft workshop held recently, he was invited as an instructor.
The workshop was a joint effort by Microsoft Malaysia, National STEM Centre and Digital Classroom, a teacher community. A total of 70 teachers from different schools and backgrounds participated in it.
MINECRAFT IMPACT
Since Aliff started using Minecraft in classroom, he says a learn-with-each-other environment was also created.
“Today, teachers are no longer “kings” in the classroom who know everything. The students learn from their peers. The teachers too learn from their students.
“I truly believe in this outcome. Most importantly, the teacher-student relationship is now strong.
“Besides enhancing creativity and skillset, Minecraft makes the learning more powerful as the students feel like they ‘own’ the learning,” says Aliff.
Students with their AR creation.
Meanwhile, a science teacher at SMK Jenjarom, Selangor, Abd Rahman Ali Bashah, sees Minecraft as having big potential in developing the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) skills.
He plans to form a team with his students when school reopens next year.
“In STEM, we encourage students to create something based on a real situation. It’s a hands-on approach. For example, students can design a building or a bridge to solve problems.
“These lessons blend concepts from science and engineering through creativity and critical thinking,” says Rahman.
A creation by one of Aliff’s students.
For Aliff, the students’ engagement in class is more important than merely good grades.
“Yes, getting A in exams is important but how meaningful is the grade? Via the STEM and Minecraft approach, I can see that my students’ engagement in class has increased. They are now bolder in taking risks.
“They are not afraid to try new things now and they also have better understanding of the subjects,” says Aliff.
The Microsoft Showcase School now has teachers using Minecraft in their lesson activities.
About 2,000 Minecraft licences have been acquired by not only MRSM Tun Mohammad Fuad Stephens but also other MRSM schools nationwide.
STUDENTS PERSPECTIVE
Students who have tried out Minecraft say it an exciting and engaging learning platform.
Form Five student Amirul Hafiz Zulazli from MRSM Transkrian in Penang enjoys playing the game but he has only tried the original Minecraft game and not the educational version.
“We don’t have it at school because our teachers think it’s just a game and hardly educational.
“But I think otherwise. This game is a great way for people to explore their creativity. I hope our teachers will allow Minecraft to be used as a learning tool in our lessons,” he says.
Nor Sofea Alyea Mohd Shairani, 11, concurs.
“I started playing Minecraft since early this year and I believe the game helped me in my Science subject.
“A lot of thinking and planning need to be applied into designing my virtual world. The canvas is so vast and limitless. I also collaborate with my friends to construct the buildings,” she says.
Minecraft is used as a hands-on activity to relate to certain topics.
According to Aliff, deploying Minecraft is not an easy task. It’s a long process which needs the support from school, he adds.
He laments that teachers nowadays are still preoccupied with grades and sceptical about Minecraft as a teaching tool.
“Minecraft is not about getting As in exams. It’s for the development of students. It’s not something that can be measured. Anyone can teach but experience itself cannot be taught unless we give students the space and opportunity to try and explore it themselves. That is more valuable than any ‘A’,” says Aliff.
“If teachers are afraid about the students getting attached to the game, they can treat it as a reward when the students behave well in class,” he adds.
MINISTRY’S PARTICIPATION
Anita Adnan, the teacher engagement manager at Microsoft Malaysia’s Education Segment, says Minecraft: Education Edition is an open world game that promotes creativity, collaboration and problem-solving in an immersive environment.
This sets it apart from other games and the only limit is the children’s imagination, she says.
“Children today are very digital literate. Using books and giving them homework are not enough. Teachers need to catch up with current trends and technology.
“Minecraft can also be embedded in ICT programmes or curriculum, suggests Anita.
Aliff teaching a group of educators at the Minecraft workshop.
The collaboration with the National STEM Centre will see Microsoft having a more structured plan where they will help 2,000 schools to try out Minecraft.
National STEM Centre head unit Dr Ihsan Ismail says the collaboration is aimed at creating awareness about Minecraft in public schools.
“With Minecraft, we hope to instill students’ interest in maths and science. Although a proper module has not been finalised, there is a possibility that Minecraft will be used as one learning tool.
“At this early stage, we want to encourage teachers and students to use it so that the ministry can monitor and evaluate its impact. If the outcome is positive, we may extend it to all,” he says.
by Stone Marshall | Jan 4, 2019 | Awesome Book News, Free, Intro, Minecraft News, Minecraft questions, news, parent-news, State of Stone, Stone Marshall Book News, Stone Marshall Books, Stone Marshall Club, Stone Marshall Minecraft Adventures, Uncategorized |
Netflix's Minecraft: Story mode, an interactive TV reworking of Telltale Games' episodic Minecraft adventure, is now available to stream in full. It marks the last Telltale project to be completed in-house, prior to the studio's closure.
When Telltale announced that it had laid off the vast majority of staff earlier this year, it noted that “a small group of 25 employees [would be] staying on to fulfil the company's obligations to its board and partners.” Netflix later confirmed that, while its Stranger Things project with Telltale was dead, Minecraft: Story Mode was “still moving forward as planned” at the studio.
That work is evidently complete, and, following the release of an initial batch of episodes last week, the full five-episode run of Minecraft: Story Mode is now available to Netflix subscribers. Netflix's version of Story Mode pares the game's first season back somewhat, focussing on key cinematic sequences and more binary choices compared to the originals.
If you've not yet experienced Story Mode, it's worth a look, even if you've only a passing interest in Minecraft. It's a warm, witty (and obviously family friendly) tale of everyday heroes battling against an ancient evil, full of likeable characters and rollicking adventure – not bad at all considering its almost story-free source material.
With Minecraft: Story Mode now complete, that just leaves Telltale's final season of The Walking Dead to go – although remaining work on this project is now being handled by an external developer. Massive redundancies at Telltale left the season's future uncertain, despite several episodes already having been released at the time.
Since then, however, Skybound – founded by Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead comic series – has stepped in to complete the game. Release dates for the two remaining episodes, which are being developed by at least some of the original team, are due soon.
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by Stone Marshall | Jan 4, 2019 | Awesome Book News, Free, Intro, Minecraft News, Minecraft questions, news, parent-news, State of Stone, Stone Marshall Book News, Stone Marshall Books, Stone Marshall Club, Stone Marshall Minecraft Adventures, Uncategorized |
Minecraft port developer 4J Studios has announced they’re no longer updating the legacy console versions of the sandbox game.
The game will no longer get updates on the PlayStation 3, PS Vita, Xbox 360, and Wii U. The long-running sandbox game will continue to get updates on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch.
The last update for the game on those platforms, The Nightmare Before Christmas Mash-up Pack, just dropped this week. It remains unclear if further updates are coming to the game’s Nintendo 3DS port, which Other Ocean Interactive ported.
by Stone Marshall | Jan 3, 2019 | Awesome Book News, Free, Intro, Minecraft News, Minecraft questions, news, parent-news, State of Stone, Stone Marshall Book News, Stone Marshall Books, Stone Marshall Club, Stone Marshall Minecraft Adventures, Uncategorized |
Watch new footage of YouTuber Stampy Cat making 10 cakes in Minecraft in under four minutes.
Stampy was taking on Fastest time to make and display 10 cakes in Minecraft survival mode (PC Edition) at our London HQ ahead of his appearance in Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2019.
Stampy, a.k.a Joseph Garrett, is a YouTube star who has made a name for himself in the Minecraft world with series such as Stampy's Funland and My Lovely World.
Boasting over 9 million subscribers and almost 7 billion views on his channel, Stampy wanted to add something new to his list of accolades.
Already a record-holder with Most viewed Terraria video (9,736,410 views) on his video entitled Terraria Xbox – My First Night [1], Stampy decided to set a brand new record, combining his love of Minecraft and cake.
StampyCat – Fastest Time to Make 10 Cakes – article 2
The successful attempt took just 3 minutes 51 seconds, but contrary to what the title would suggest, it was no piece of cake!
Lots of forethought went into the attempt to ensure it went efficiently, resulting in a quick time. Stampy placed all the elements out methodically and used pits to spawn his skeletons and cow into to stop them moving during the attempt.
“Spawning them in so they're just roaming around the land would not be a very fast idea… because then I'll be trying to make 10 cakes while a skeleton is running around and shooting me!” he explained.
StampyCat – Fastest Time to Make 10 Cakes-3
The two-time record breaker also wrote the introduction to Gamer's Edition 2019, in which he discusses his records and what you can find in the fact-filled book.
“As I am literally obsessed with videogames, I was so excited when I heard that they [Guinness World Records] wanted to me be involved with this book!”
by Stone Marshall | Jan 3, 2019 | Awesome Book News, Free, Intro, Minecraft News, Minecraft questions, news, parent-news, State of Stone, Stone Marshall Book News, Stone Marshall Books, Stone Marshall Club, Stone Marshall Minecraft Adventures, Uncategorized |
We’ve written this article to announce to the world that Minecraft has come with a last-minute fix update for PS4. We found out what’s new with this update and we thought you’d like to hear about it, too.
The holiday update for PS4
The 4J Studios have released a new update for Minecraft PlayStation 4 edition. Just last week they have released the holiday update for PS4 and on some other platforms, too. Then they have come with a follow-up update that’s available now to download on PS4. Also, 4J Studios announced that they’d support the game into the new year on numerous platforms.
What are the patch notes that come with the update for PS4?
Patch 1.84 – change log, from the date of the 21st of December of 2018. They came with a fix for a crash that takes place when loading a world or simply exploring an existing world. They also came with a fix for Salmon, Tropical Fish and Pufferfish dropping Cod when they get killed.
These are all the patch notes for this update. 4J Studios will continue to support Minecraft PlayStation 4 Edition, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One into the new year. Other systems, such as PS3, PS Vita, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii U will not receive any future updates – or at least, not that we know of so far.
On what devices is the game available?
The game is now available on many devices, like PS3, PS Vita, PS 4, PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and smartphones around the world. And it’s understandable, since it’s the most popular game from the entire world, that has sold millions of copies around the world.
by Stone Marshall | Jan 2, 2019 | Awesome Book News, Free, Intro, Minecraft News, Minecraft questions, news, parent-news, State of Stone, Stone Marshall Book News, Stone Marshall Books, Stone Marshall Club, Stone Marshall Minecraft Adventures, Uncategorized |
Minecraft Dungeons will take players to various locations that, of course, sport that signature Minecraft block art style from canyons to swamps and the expected mines. In these various places, players will hunt down new loot like weapons and items to take down hordes of enemy mobs, including some new creatures never seen before.
You will have the option of playing Minecraft Dungeons by yourself and taking on the countless enemies alone or teaming up with up to three other friends for a full team of four players. According to the official announcement, the levels that you will explore with your team will be widely varied as you journey to save all of the villagers and take down the poorly named Arch-Illager.
Minecraft Dungeons will take players to various locations that, of course, sport that signature Minecraft block art style from canyons to swamps and the expected mines. In these various places, players will hunt down new loot like weapons and items to take down hordes of enemy mobs, including some new creatures never seen before.
You will have the option of playing Minecraft Dungeons by yourself and taking on the countless enemies alone or teaming up with up to three other friends for a full team of four players. According to the official announcement, the levels that you will explore with your team will be widely varied as you journey to save all of the villagers and take down the poorly named Arch-Illager.
Minecraft Dungeons is being developed by Mojang itself, though, the team behind it is a smaller dedicated team based in Stockholm, Sweden. The official announcement came with a reveal trailer, which you can view above. Unfortunately, the announcement trailer doesn’t seem to show any actual gameplay so it remains to be seen if the title will play from the traditional third-person/first-person viewpoint or go for the traditional isometric perspective.
However, it does seem from the initial trailer that there will be some sort of class system that players will choose from. We see the traditional sword-wielding fighter as well as a heavy duty hammer-wielding character and some sort of wizard. Minecraft Dungeons is the latest spin-off game in the series, joining Story Mode from the now-closed developer Telltale Games.
