Sinéad Herlihy of Charleville CBS Primary School in Cork is one teacher who is really excited to take part in the Ireland's Future Is Mine competition.
She has been using Minecraft Education Edition for years and back in 2016, when she was working in Mitchelstown CBS Primary in Cork won the Mindrising Competition.
Here, she tells us about this and all the other amazing things that her students do with Minecraft EE to help them learn about the past and build for the future!
Why did you start using the game in class?
I am a special education teacher and I always try to be as child-centred as possible in order to engage in the children's interests. Minecraft is extremely popular with young children and their knowledge of the game and its possibilities is very impressive, especially when they have opportunity to speak about and it and play it in school.
It was a no-brainer for me and I set about getting education accounts in 2015 when the education edition was released. I like the way it promotes speaking and listening skills and well as being a highly motivational learning tool.
Tell us about your award-winning project from 2016?
Microsoft acquired Minecraft and the educational version in 2016. When they launched the Mindrising Competition, I knew that we would have to enter.
My pupils had lots of ideas but they were limited in their historical knowledge. We covered some of the topics and they were very impressed with the story of Joseph Plunkett and of Thomas Kent from Castlelyons in County Cork.
There were several pupils in across the school with amazing singing voices and boy in particular loved the song Grace. It was decided that we would do a music video and tell the story of the rebellion through song and through Minecraft.
It went down very well when we put it up on YouTube. We got viewers from all around the globe who found it very moving!
AND then a film on Tom Crean won another award!
To say we were thrilled upon winning was a complete understatement. It was very worthwhile and an amazing experience for the boys. We also went on to make an Irish language film about Tom Crean.
Tom Crean: Fear Cróga Fear Gealgháireach whereby we also won in the Best Music category in the FÍS Film Festival! Another lovely day out in Dublin for the boys (a different class this time!)
And you are still using Minecraft EE in the classroom?
Absolutely! I have always tried to some have a building project happening in my class – competition or no competition!! It's really heartening to hear the chat and the descriptive language used by the children when they are using it.
In my current school in Charleville, we are using across the classes. We think it is a great investment considering the amount of educational content the pupils can create and the social and collaborative skills it fosters in the class.
Its presence in the class creates intrigue, adventure and possibilities- it is a platform where all children seem to feel comfortable even if they’ve never played it before! I’m delighted that more schools will have an opportunity to try it out this year- it is definitely worth it!
