Notes

Minecraft: The Maker's Game



Minecraft: the game that made the creator.

by Samantha Jamison



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Students in Assistant Professor B. Reeja Jayan’s upper-level engineering course learned the principles of materials science while playing Minecraft, instead of in a lecture-based setting.



Instead of studying the fundamentals of materials science in a traditional lecture-based setting, students in Assistant Professor B. Reeja Jayan's higher-level engineering class learned their concepts through a game-based environment while playing Minecraft, a computer-based game where players create worlds out of virtual blocks.



In her special topics course called Materials and Their Processing for Mechanical Engineers, Jayan "fills the gaps" for mechanical engineering students with little understanding of materials science.



Jayan says that material science is a subject that mechanical engineers are typically not taught about. "This course teaches students how materials have a specific internal arrangement of atoms, and how processes can alter the structure of these materials and result in differences in properties like the behavior of mechanical materials and their strength."



Minecraft has helped me learn about materials science in a very tangible manner.



Jayan says that mechanical engineers need to be aware of how the processes and properties of materials impact the structure of atoms to appreciate the science behind mechanical engineering and the design of materials. Because traditional lab courses are often difficult to organize (due to safety hazards or equipment shortages or lack of personnel), Jayan utilized a game-based teaching methodology to ensure that her students still benefit from a real-world learning environment.



"When you make materials, it's like making things," says Jayan. OCCITIES.ORG "Minecraft is a maker's games. You can construct anything you want. There are certain modules in the game that allow players to appreciate the properties of the materials they build with. I wanted to use this culture of construction to help students imagine ideas, and think about what they could build in a real-world environment.



Minecraft is a hit with a broad audience due to the possibility of customizing their own experience within an open world "sandbox" environment. Minecraft encourages players not to follow a straight line (where they travel from one checkpoint to another) instead, they are encouraged to explore, wander, and interact with their surroundings by using tools and materials. Minecraft encourages players to solve problems by making their own structures.



Students complete the final Minecraft project at the end of the semester by creating their own rooms and games on the classroom server. Students are challenged to create unique projects that illustrate the fundamentals of materials science in an interactive manner. Students developed games last semester that required players to create materials using the most sophisticated methods of synthesis and material processing. Other students made crystal-based museums and replicas of steelmaking facilities. Students can gain an understanding of the basic principles of materials science by finishing these complicated projects.



Students in @b_reeja's Minecraft-based course demonstrate their work to middle schoolers in the local area. @CMUEngineering pic.twitter.com/0BGk7kBhyj



"Minecraft has enabled me to understand materials science in a very tangible manner" says MechE junior Genevieve Parker. I loved being able to explore an object and view the contents in three dimensions. The Minecraft classroom is interactive and fun. The ability to create and be creative on homework assignments and the project I was working on pushed me to learn and kept me engaged when I was working."



While a few Minecraft teachers have utilized the game in their classrooms, few college professors have integrated it into their curriculum.



"There aren't any other examples of Minecraft being utilized at the university level other than the University of Texas-Dallas and CMU," says Jayan. "The main difference with us is that it's the first time the game has ever been integrated into an engineering class full-fledged.


Website: https://www.occities.org/