Playing In The Virtual Sandbox Students Collaborative Practices In Minecraft
Minecraft is one of the most popular video games ever, having sold more than 100 million copies since its release in 2009 (Huddleston 2016,). The sandbox game, which players build, explore and discover ways to survive in virtual worlds is especially popular with young players (Thompson 2016,). Teachers are paying attention and are looking into ways to integrate Minecraft into their curriculum (Timoner 2014). Books In the classroom, Minecraft is being used to teach subjects and skills such as math, physics, computational thinking, creativity and art, digital citizenship, history and collaboration (e.g., Cipollone, Schifter, & Moffat 2014; Craft, 2016; Hill & Jones, 2015; Overby & Jones, 2015; Short, 2012). A Minecraft: Education Edition is available to help teachers use Minecraft with students. Minecraft workshops and camps are becoming more popular outside of the classroom. The interest of educators in Minecraft is part of a wider trend of learning through games (Gee, 2007; Plass, Homer, Kinzer, and Plass, Squire 2006, 2008). These initiatives are built on a constructivist approach to education, where learners actively construct knowledge by engaging in open-ended activities that involve problem solving, decision-making, and following one's passions (Plass and Kinzer. 2015).
Despite the widespread enthusiasm for using Minecraft to enhance learning, there is little research on its effectiveness. There is no evidence to support the learning benefits that are associated with using Minecraft to teach specific skills, and the conditions in which these benefits are realized. The incorporation of Minecraft and other games that are multiplayer into learning and teaching will not be feasible until evidence of this is available.
This study seeks to fill this knowledge gap by exploring middle school students' collaborative interactions when playing Minecraft in small groups of 4 or more players. Collaboration is a key component of learning (Johnson and Johnson 1989; Rogoff 1998; Roschelle 1992) and because multiplayer games are particularly well-suited to collaboration (Gee 2007, 2008; Plass et. al. (2015), Squire 2006, 2008 Steinkuehler 2004 2004) We chose to focus on collaboration. While collaboration is typically used in conjunction with other pedagogical goals however, this study specifically focuses on collaboration as a separate goal. Prior research has shown that students have difficulty working together effectively, and this can result in negative effects on their learning outcomes (e.g. Barron, 2003). Collaboration is a skill that students must develop in order to experience the benefits of learning collaboratively and, therefore, warrants further research.
Our study focused on the forms and roles of the players used while playing the game (Bluemink Hamalainen Manninen, Manninen and Jarvela 2010 2010). These findings provide fresh insights into the factors that facilitate or hinder high-quality collaboration in Minecraft. PREMIUM E These insights will be of value to teachers who are interested in using Minecraft and other multiplayer games to promote collaboration among their students.
