Kaunatas at secondary school will teach students using Minecraft

As part of the European Digital Week, JSPA organised and chaired eTwinning lessons for teachers 21-23 March for the use of Minecraft in school and training projects. They could apply for 2 teachers from school, one had to be an informatics teacher, and another could represent any other subjects who planned to improve mutual cooperation within the learning process, forming training activities with intercultural links based on competency training. From Kaunatas high school came and was selected as an informatics teacher, Evita Cairiši and Latvian language teacher Inara Paramonova. In total, 23 teachers from 12 Latvian schools participated in these 3-day exercises and learned the popular Minecraft game in a pupil environment with the aim of promoting intercultural links and developing teachers' skills for the use of games in the learning process. The seminar was chaired by Edgars Bajarung, an eTwinning Ambassador, a graduate of the “Possible Mission” programme, the University of Sigulda's secondary school social sciences, history and physics, the “Minecraft School” teacher.
Minecraft is a construction computer game developed by Marcus Peter and its company Moyang AB based in Stockholm, Sweden. The game allows players to create and destroy different types of blocks in three-dimensional environments. The game's phone and computer have long been an integral part of the daily entertainment of many children. Although everyone knows that it is not really good, it is very difficult to avoid this modern reality. If one game goes and comes, the game “Minecraft” has become a special game that has not only children but also some good adults. Even special forums are devoted to the game. As part of eTwinning training in practice, teachers learned the Minecraft program, which performed a variety of pedagogical tasks, as well as learning eTwinning Live platform tools for project organisation and the use OF 3D elements in Minecraft. Teachers learned how to use Minecraft in different subjects. The participants each acquired the Minecraft license to be used for further work until the end of the school year. In countless countries, Minecraft's educational version of “Minecraft: Education Edition” is an open world-type game that provides students with the opportunity to learn teaching material and collaborative skills in a familiar and interesting environment with different tools to make experience educational. Lessons ended with project ideas presentations and a professional debate on the need to use games in a school environment at the Microsoft Innovation Center. The debate was organised and took place by experienced debtors from the “quo you think?” but other stakeholders could also participate. Following the presentations of teachers' projects, a representative of Microsoft Latvia spoke and expressed the delight of the work that teachers had done in two days, learning the Minecraft methods, and predicted successful further cooperation in the education of the new generation.
Kaunatas high school teachers acquired not only the skills in Minecraft game modules but also the experience of creating eTwinning projects and placing them in TwineSpace. The TwinSpace project was modelled and placed in TwinSpace in collaboration with colleagues from Dagda High School. The experience gained will not only extend the opportunities provided BY LEGO Robotics, with which the teacher Evita Cairiaa has been exciting pupils for several years, but also expanding the opportunities for cooperation between teachers of different subjects for modern youth in an innovative way.
Inara Paramonova
Photo from eTwinning archive