Aspire 2Be, a Minecraft Global Training Partner, along with CGI collaborated to introduce a fun and exciting Minecraft build challenge to all students and schools in Aberdeenshire, Dundee and Edinburgh.
Using Minecraft: Education Edition, and drawing from UNESCO Sustainable Development Goals, teachers led students to collaborate on a sustainable solution for their community that showed how we could change unsustainable behaviours for ways to live in harmony with nature. Students were encouraged to research information about sustainable living, sustainable communities and the sustainable development goals.
The teams then created examples of housing, nature reserves, sports stadiums and other constructions using Minecraft: Education Edition. All participating teams collaborated using rubrics and a Minecraft world provided to envision their sustainable future.
Teachers attended a live launch event to learn the basics of Minecraft, how the projects aligned with the Scotland Curriculum for Excellence, and to register their student teams. Over 100 teams registered and participated in the project over a three week period!
Student teams worked on their builds in class during lunchtimes, after school clubs, and at home, which was enabled by the multiplayer abilities in Minecraft: Education Edition. At the end of the build project, student teams submitted their Minecraft projects to be considered for judging. The winning teams from both primary and secondary schools for each region were then invited to attend a live Esports competition at Abertay University.
The live competition at Abertay University saw the teams battle it out, using the skills, team work, and sustainability knowledge gathered from the earlier stages of the build challenge. Following a tense and very tight judging session, the winners were announced – for primary schools, the Yellow Bolts were the victors; and for secondary schools, it was Team Qube who took the top spot! All the builds were fantastic, demonstrating a very high standard across the board. Congratulations to all the entrants for a fantastic build challenge!
