6th Grade Latin America Civilizations Minecraft Build Lesson

Learning Target: Student will identify important aspects of Aztec, Maya, and Incan civilization, create virtual representations of their civilization on a current geopolitical map, and then present their builds utilizing web 2.0 technology.

Task: Students will recall knowledge regarding ancient civilizations and create 3-dimensional representations in Minecraft.

Lesson Setting: students are creating structures on the geopolitical map in Minecraft

Materials: Students are given a worksheet of their choice with questions about one of the three civilizations. Students also have the option using a mouse to help build, as well as head set to use for flip grid.

Time: Students were given three class periods, or one week, to finish.

Setup: Students operated in their own world in groups of two or three.

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What worked:

• Creating a worksheet for students to answer questions on, referring to their notes from the three civilizations

A)   A shaded map identifying where the civilization(s) are located in Latin America

B)    A word bank for fill-in-the-blank

C)    An open-ended question asking for three details about the civilization of choice

D)    A Rubric explaining what was expected of the builds

E)    Extensions for students who finish early

• Creating a PowerPoint that had teacher made examples of the building tasks for students to reference
• A video of how to use a flip grid. This was very helpful for first-time users see video at the bottom of post.

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What could have gone better

• In the rubric, students were asked to identify the current countries and civilizations occupied by labeling them with a sign. This was very difficult for students to do. I think this was a great idea, but next time, add that it is an optional build if students have time at the end of their assignment.