STEM Industry School Partnerships

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SISP brings industry themes to Minecraft!

SISP Program

Recently SISP teamed up with stem.T4L to hit the road to deliver a series of teacher professional learning workshops in the use of Minecraft Education Edition in schools. Following a successful trial workshop in Orange during August, workshops were held during October in Parkes, Condobolin and Griffith.

Recently SISP teamed up with stem.T4L to hit the road to deliver a series of teacher professional learning workshops in the use of Minecraft Education Edition in schools. Following a successful trial workshop in Orange during August, workshops were held during October in Parkes, Condobolin and Griffith.

During the workshops, teachers were led by Microsoft trained stem.T4L leaders through the Microsoft Education Edition online learning resources, giving them the skills and knowledge how to play Minecraft, use the educational tools within Education Edition and how to manage a virtual classroom in a Minecraft world.

SISP provided local guest speakers who shared their STEM Career story to teachers and students, then presented their engineering design process used when designing and constructing bridges in our regional areas. Students then applied these engineering design processes to a Minecraft challenge in a mini-lesson, replicating the industry processes under the guidance of the guest speakers. Teachers watched the mini-lesson to see how students interacted in a virtual classroom in a Minecraft world, including from within the game itself. This gave them a valuable understanding of how students work, learn and behave when collaborating online through Minecraft, along with valuable troubleshooting experience.

The participant feedback was very encouraging. In a mix of Primary and Secondary teachers, 75% described themselves as limited or basic Minecraft users prior to the course. 100% of participants felt they now have a better understanding of how to use Minecraft as a STEM teaching resource. They scored the impact of the course on their teaching as 4.27 out of 5 (5 being the greatest) and rated the course as 4.59 out of 5.

Thanks to Megan from Microsoft, Tanya and Geoff from stem.T4L and our industry partner guests from CSU Engineering, InLink Group, NSW Roads and Maritime Services and Lachlan Shire Council for making the workshops a great success.