The Use of Minecraft as an Educational Tool to Improve Student Performance in the Classroom

While the author will be speaking directly of his experiences in a classroom and district setting, he argues that these same ideas can be carried out by others who would perform the same tests that he does. The idea behind exploratory class is to give students in grades 6 through 8 the opportunity to see what kinds of classes that are offered at Panorama schools as well as introduce them to possible career choices like automotive repair or construction trades that they might find interesting and wish to pursue later in life. Since there are over 60 students in each grade, students are divided into three groups and each group goes through a rotation of two other classes like physical education and art, or agriculture science and cooking, alongside of tech class. Teachers in these rotations see each group on a three day rotation and have a total of fifteen days with each group per semester. It is difficult for students to build lasting connections to curriculum unless it is memorable to them and they can internalize it and find ways to make connections to their daily lives. This schedule makes retention of information given to students low as they have two additional days before we meet again. It is because of this issue that teachers continue to look for new curriculum and delivery methods for these students, so that the lessons being taught are meaningful and that they can apply in other classes as well as outside of the school setting. It is the hope of the author that the use of the Minecraft program will give students that connection they need to not only recall information being taught in my class, but that it will help with the delivery of the 21st Century Skills curriculum