Intercultural Minecraft Project, Global Experience for Renton Prep Students

Renton Prep students from the 6th and 7th grade participated in an intercultural minecraft project with students in Japan. This project was done with students from Ritsumeikan Primary School in Japan. The project required the students at Ritsumeikan to create minecraft worlds that showcased historical Japanese landmarks. Using English block coding and JavaScript, the students programmed a minecraft “agent” –a character that can perform tasks, such as building and even talking to players. Our Renton Prep students had the responsibility of giving feedback on the students’ worlds, coding, and English.

Intercultural Collaboration and Minecraft Worlds

The goal of this intercultural minecraft project is to give our students an opportunity to have an exchange with students from another country. Also, this project served as a history assignment for both schools. Creating minecraft worlds to show the locations of Japanese landmarks put into practice Ritsumeikan students’ English and block coding skills. Additionally, both schools were able to have Skype calls to discuss the project and share about themselves. The 6th grade class was studying global language, programming language, and language arts. And this project reflects that. Looking at the similarities between global and programming language and how skills for each apply, mirrors the steps to writing an essay. So, this intercultural minecraft project also overlaps with other academic skills of their class. The video they created for this intercultural minecraft project shows how the collaboration process was carried out and some of the students’ reflection.

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Students’ Reflection, a Driving Force of the Intercultural Minecraft Project

Students Madison and Sophia wrote about the project reflecting on their experience. Here are some of their thoughts on the intercultural minecraft project:

“We  were asked to work with and help some students in Japan. We were extremely excited! We looked at their builds and we gave them feedback on the coding. We graded them on the effectiveness of everything.”

“Renton Prep has been doing some fun work with Japan (fun right? ). We did lots of stuff including looking through their worlds, watching their videos, and if they had anything else we would try it. Also, with all the fun, we still had to give feedback and give ways to make it better.”

“After we looked we focused on the feedback. FUN! We get to enjoy video chatting with them. We hope to learn more about Japanese architecture and keep close connection with our new friends. Sayonara!”

Renton Prep and Amazing Grace are always implementing new ways for students to learn and engage in activities that deal with global solutions. To see other news and learn more about our school contact us today.