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Equipping educators for Game-Based Teaching using Minecraft

Equipping educators for Game-Based Teaching using Minecraft

29 Jun 2023

The Ateneo Laboratory for the Learning Sciences (ALLS), through its project Nurturing Interest in STEM among Filipino Learners using Minecraft funded by DOST-PCIEERD, ALLS was able to conduct four teacher training sessions in total—two online and two on-site training sessions—for basic education teachers that focused on module development using the What-If Hypothetical Implementations in Minecraft (WHIMC) worlds.

In March 2021, ALLS conducted one online teacher training in partnership with Dr Jeff Ginger of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), a postdoctoral associate of the WHIMC project of UIUC. Another online teacher training was held last May 2022 in partnership with the Ateneo Teacher Center.

Then, in October 2022, ALLS started to conduct on-site training at Ramon Magsayasay Elementary School (RMES) and Leopoldo B Santos Elementary School (LBSES) intermediate-level teachers.

*Workshop on the use of WHIMC EE at RMES.* *The training facilitators and the school principal intently observe the teachers trying the game.*

*Dr. Rodrigo discussed the training program during the training with RMES teachers.*

After the training, each school endorsed teachers from Grade levels 4, 5 and 6. The teachers drafted lesson plans integrating WHIMC in a topic from the school curriculum and implemented it in a pilot class from said levels.

With the new grant under the University Research Council (URC) of Ateneo de Manila University, ALLS was able to conduct another on-site teacher training for Eulogio Rodriguez elementary school for their Grades 2 to 6 teachers. This is part of the laboratory’s effort to continue the school deployment of WHIMC in Education Edition.