• In Twalkers, students learn why it's important to avoid multitasking with a cell phone. They consider the benefits of focusing on one task at a time.
• In Share Jumper, students evaluate examples of online messages. They decide what information is appropriate to share and when. Students are also reminded that nothing is truly "private" or "erasable" online.
• In E-volve, students make choices about what to do if they or their friends are cyberbullied. They are encouraged to "evolve" into an “Upstander” – someone who takes action to stop cyberbullying, rather than standing by.
• In Search Shark, students learn how to choose effective keywords for searching online. They practice selecting keywords that are most relevant to a search prompt. Along the way, students discover hints for narrowing their search results.
• In Mix-n-Mash, students remix media content to create a new creative piece. Along the way, they give proper credit to the artists whose images and sound clips they use.

On violence collaboration  

This is a topic that falls close to our hearts because we want a peaceful world for our children, and we worry that if our children play games that include violence, they will exhibit violent behaviors. While Minecraft does allow survival game modes in which players can fight on teams or individually, it does not promote violence. We provide guidance for our students on developing peaceful solutions and strategies for managing conflict throughout our curriculum, and Minecraft provides an additional environment for developing collaborative relationships and problem solving skills so that our students can grow as responsible global citizens. 

On addiction balanced self-management  

Our children need support to develop balanced self-management. Whether they love studying, gaming, social networking, reading, sports, YouTube, 'hanging out,' or something else, the role of parent and teacher is sometimes to re-direct attention from personal interests to academics, sleep, or some other balance-creating focus. Our intent as parents and educators is to educate our children so that they will be able to find their passions, and make balanced self-management choices now, at university, and beyond. 

On inactivity being physically active 

Physical activity is an important factor in personal and academic development. For some of our learners, a passion for sport or active play makes physical activity a regular part of their day. For others, support is needed to find physical activities that provide the benefits of being active and the engagement needed to get the learner to engage in the activity. While playing Minecraft, students are not being physically active (unless they have desks like these!). They are, however, being mentally active, and Minecraft can be considered a worthwhile activity along the lines of reading, studying, art, music, science, and mathematics. 

On creativity and problem solvingPlaying Minecraft requires creativity, research, and problem solving. When you ask people what they do in Minecraft, they will often give you a perplexed look. It's not because they don't do things. It's because it's difficult to know where to begin. It's because there is too much to explain, and you might not get it anyway. Minecrafters use code, plugins, mods, command blocks and more to change the nature of their environments and control their worlds.  

Parent of a Minecrafter? Before you judge it, play it. Really. Sit down with your Minecrafter and make a world, build a crafting table, survive the night, learn to use red-stone, dig for gold (or, even better, diamonds!). Ask for a world tour. Prepare to be amazed at what your child can do and create. Be amazed at what YOU can create! 

Chelsea Woods
Technology Director