Your Name and Title: Kathleen Reardon, Connecting Through Architecture: Minecraft in the Language Classroom
School or Organization Name: Dedham Country Day School
Co-Presenter Name(s):
Area of the World from Which You Will Present: Massachusetts, USA
Language in Which You Will Present: English
Target Audience(s): Teachers
Short Session Description (one line): Learn how architecture conveys stories of culture and history as our Mandarin and Latin language students study, draw, and digitally reconstruct in Minecraft buildings from their cultures of study.
Full Session Description (as long as you would like):
Our middle school Mandarin and Latin students engage in a yearlong thematic study of architecture. At the start of the year, each student researches a building related to the culture and language of study. Over the course of the year, students develop three projects that demonstrate how architecture conveys stories of culture & history. In the fall, students engage in research about architecture and write a short research paper addressing how architecture connects cultures and history. In the winter, students construct a blueprint of the building to scale with collaboration from the Math Department. In the spring, these blueprints are digitally reconstructed using MinecraftEdu, through collaboration with the Tech Department. Students then screencast tours of their digital reconstructions, guiding the audience through their buildings while telling the stories conveyed by the architecture.
Attendees will have the opportunity to engage in discussion about the learning goals, view examples of student work, and hear student testimonials about the learning experience. Presenters will also explain how the yearlong project addresses 21st Century Skills, cultural understanding, digital literacy & citizenship, and best practices in developing global citizenship curriculum.
Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session: www.doctiloqua.com, www.minecraftedu.com
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