Minecraft Education Edition has been a game changer for student engagement and gamifying the classroom.
We are proud to be recognised as an official Microsoft Minecraft Education Edition Global Training Partner. Not only has Aspire 2Be been fortunate enough to train 1000s of global educators to use Minecraft to deliver STEM lessons from a new perspective but also to help isolating families before and during Covid lockdowns in the UK with our industry partners, CITB via the Go Construct programme.
Aspire 2Be has also been recognized for its contributions to promoting STEM education recently with the Wales STEM award. What is Minecraft and how have we been able to make it relevant for students, teachers and parents throughout the UK.
Starting with our pilot Go Construct programme in 2018, funded by CITB, we were able to first introduce Minecraft Education Edition to teachers in Wales. On the back of a successful pilot programme we were inundated by requests across Wales. Minecraft at the time was not freely accessible and this was the first en masse rollout of the platform with a unique focus on the Welsh Digital Competency Framework (DCF) and curriculum, as well as elements of the new 2022 curriculum. The Go Construct curriculum was so successful that Kirsty Williams AM, Welsh Education Minister, visited our Aspire 2Be partner school, Willowtown Community Primary School in Ebbw Vale to see the whole school impact of the project.
The Go Construct projects produced over 1000 trained educators, over 500 Go Construct Minecraft clubs started and allowed Aspire 2Be to be the first to launch a Wales curriculum centered Minecraft Education Edition programme to all regions of Wales. Each of the regional Go Construct sessions culminated with Buildathons that showcased student clubs from across the all the regions of Wales and the UK to use their teamwork skills to produce a challenge unveiled on the day. Each team consisted of three teammates that took on professional technical construction roles as they decided how best to design, produce and quality check their Minecraft builds.
In the summer of 2020 we were able to hold a virtual Buildathon for families in England, Wales and Scotland to help all isolating families cope with lockdown due to Covid-19. The engagement was phenomenal with close to 600 families taking part with their children to take on various Minecraft building challenges revolving around core STEM skills such as science, technology, basic engineering and maths.
As a Minecraft Global Training Partner, Aspire 2Be has been able to work with schools throughout the UK adapting the CITB funded Go Construct programme as well as working with schools individually to help staff get the most out of Minecraft Education Edition in the classroom. Aspire 2be is also in the planning stages to work with schools globally to introduce STEM challenges and lessons alongside Microsoft Innovative Educators.
Want to get involved? Let us know how we can help.
As an official Minecraft Global Training Partner and Microsoft Global Training Partner, Aspire 2Be is always ready to support and learn from educators and organisations looking to inspire students, of all ages, using this amazing learning tool.
- Aspire 2Be (A2B) is a multi award winning International Learning Technology company that crafts creative, bespoke solutions in order to develop outstanding digital competence skills across education, business and sport. Headquartered at the SA1 waterfront development in Swansea, with offices in Wales, London and Guernsey, they are the only Learning Technology company in Europe who are global training partners of all three tech giants, Apple, Google and Microsoft. You can follow their progress on Twitter https://twitter.com/aspire2be?lang=en and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/aspire2be1/
