Friday, December 20, 2013

Ride the Rollercoasters #GeniusHour #edtechex

My middle school Tools for Tech class decided that their 2nd quarter Innovation Project would be a MineCraft version of an amusement park.  They originally decided to recreate Kings Island (a major amusement park north of Cincinnati) but then changed their mind to create their own rides.Somewhere along the line they switched from MineCraft to Tekkit, which they tell me is a version of MineCraft.

Overall, the project seemed to go really well. They spent Fridays huddled around a laptop, planning and getting things done.  They logged on to the project at the same time at home and used Skype to communicate to each other.  A virus attacked their park toward the end and they worked together to fix the problems and recover the rides that were destroyed.

We agreed that their presentation would take me on a tour of their amusement park and put me on the rides.  I also asked them to share it with me in a way that I can share it with you.  If you have 10 minutes or so, click the video below and enjoy the rides.



I think this was a great project for a few reasons.
1. They did something they are interested in. MineCraft and amusement parks? What teenager these days doesn't love these?
2. They created. That's the point of this project to give them room and time to create something really cool.
3. They worked together.  Face-to-face interaction, working online, and talking on Skype.  They had to learn to cooperate and deal with different work ethics and schedules.

Yes, I'm proud of this one.  Nicely done, guys!

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