Playing In The Virtual Sandbox Students Collaborative Practices In Minecraft
Minecraft is among the most popular video games ever, having sold over 100 million copies since its launch in 2009 (Huddleston 2016). Sandbox games, in which players explore, build and figure out ways to survive in virtual worlds is especially popular with young players (Thompson 2016,). Teachers are paying attention and are looking at ways to integrate Minecraft into their curriculum (Timoner 2014). Minecraft is being used in the classroom to teach subjects like math and physics, computational thinking and creativity as well as digital citizenship, history and collaboration (e.g. Cipollone. Schifter. and Moffat, 2014; Craft 2016, 2016; Hill 2015; Overby & Jones 2015; Short 2012). A Minecraft: Education Edition is available to help teachers use Minecraft with their students. Outside the classroom, Minecraft camps and workshops are becoming popular in informal learning environments like libraries (e.g., Cilauro, 2015; Gauquier & Schneider, 2013). Sagor's blog The interest of educators in Minecraft is part a larger trend in the field of game-based education (Gee 2007, 2008; Plass Homer, Kinzer, & Kinzer 2015; Squire 2006, 2008). These initiatives are built on a constructivist approach to education where students actively build knowledge by engaging in open-ended tasks that require problem-solving, decision-making, and following one's passions (Plass and Kinzer. 2015).
Despite the overwhelming enthusiasm for using Minecraft to support learning, there is little research that examines its effectiveness. There isn't a lot of evidence to confirm the claims of Minecraft as a tool to teach specific skills. We also do not have any information about the conditions that could be the cause of such advantages. Until such evidence is available, efforts to include Minecraft and other games for multiplayer into teaching and learning will be based on intuitions and best guesses instead of evidence-based best practices.
This study aims to fill this knowledge gap by exploring middle school students' collaborative interactions when playing Minecraft in small groups of 2-4 players. We decided to concentrate on collaboration because of its centrality to learning (Johnson Johnson & Johnson, 1989; Rogoff, 1998; Roschelle, 1992) and also because multiplayer games are particularly suited to collaboration (Gee, 2007; Plass et al. 2015; Squire, 2006, 2008; Steinkuehler, 2004,). Although we acknowledge that collaboration is typically utilized in conjunction with other goals of pedagogy the study specifically focuses on collaboration as the focus of investigation. Research has previously demonstrated that students struggle to work together effectively, and this can have negative consequences for their learning outcomes (e.g. Barron, 2003). Thus, collaboration is itself a skill that students must develop in order to experience the benefits of collaborative learning and thus warrants a specific research.
Our research focused on the forms and roles of the players who played the game (Bluemink Hamalainen Manninen, Manninen & Jarvela 2010, 2010). These findings provide new insights into the factors that support or hinder collaboration of high quality in Minecraft. These insights will prove useful for educators who want to use Minecraft and other multiplayer games to promote collaboration among students.
