John Miller - Unofficial Minecraft STEM Lab for Kids: Family-Friendly Projects for Exploring Concepts in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

Unofficial Minecraft STEM Lab for Kids is for parents, caregivers, and educatorsany adult who wants to connect the Minecraft player(s) in their life with STEM learning. Its intended to help bridge the gap between game-play and engaging STEM concepts.

The best way to use this book is to work through the labs with your Minecraft playing partner. The labs are intended to develop thinking skills and communication. Feel free to skip around from lab to lab, or to start at the beginning and work through the labs consecutively. We encourage you to extend and modify the labs to reflect your interests and those of your Minecraft player(s).

Minecraft builds by readers of Unofficial Minecraft Lab for Kids: Teagan Carter.

Throughout this book, players are encouraged to keep a science field journal in which they keep track of their findings, recording everything they observe and collect, much as a scientist working in the field would. By journaling their observations, your players will be able to keep track of their findings. When scientists jot down all their observations, they free space in their brains working memory to focus on other areas during their research. Not all observations have clear connections while journaling, which is why scientists jot down as much as possible.

We offer some examples of field journal entries below and on the opposite page to inspire your players, who can either follow our examples or make up their own. Note that ours are a mix of writing and drawing often called sketchnoting or visual journaling. By combining visuals with text, we find its easier to jot down ideas more quickly.

Most field journals typically include the time of day, weather, location, plants and/or animals observed, soil, measurements, etc. Our sketchnotes also include drawings, diagrams, and questionslots of questions.

Here are a few basic guidelines to share with your player:

Just jot down ideas. Dont worry about how they look. No one is grading this work. The journal is only for your players own scientific experiments.

Highlight important items by making them darker or bolder with a pencil, pen, or marker.

Doodle, add your personality, and have fun!

Sample sketchnotes for Lab 23 (above) and Lab 19 (below).

Sample sketchnotes (from top) for Labs 15, 9, and 5.

GAME MECHANICS FOR PARENTS

What Is Minecraft?

When players enter a newly created Minecraft world, they often experience a sense of awe and wonder as they move through a place that has been uniquely generated just for them. They find themselves walking through a jungle or across a deserted beach or scaling a tall mountain to get a better view. They might encounter a vast sandy desert or a deep red and brown mesa. Through their travels, they may see wild horses, cute little rabbits, or other exotic beasts as each day passes.

At its core, Minecraft is a simple game. A novice can get a general feel in minutes for how the game is played, despite the fact that no instructions come with it. You can play by yourself or with others, and the game can be played across multiple devices, from computers to smartphones and tablets to gaming consoles.