Day 2 of Minecraft Club: Civic Competence (Social Studies)

Day One

On day one of Minecraft Club, I had my students research civic concepts:

• culture
• adaptation to environments
• social interactions of groups
• governing powers
• interdependence of communities
• citizenship

Day Two

On day two, students were divided into two "communities." Each community had a team captain. Their goal was to create the ideal community. Here is what I observed on the first day:  

Contact Between Communities

• Team leaders communicated with one another which areas they claimed so that the other team could not develop any structures in their area. 
• The team leaders met to negotiate trades. They were more willing to trade off resources they did not need or value; usually if they have a large supply of a specific resource. 

Team One

Designated Specific Roles:

• The roles of each group member was distributed by their specific abilities and skills. Hunters were required to find animals for food. The food was distributed to group members who were low in food.  Explorers went out and investigated their environment. Explorers reported their findings to the group, specifying the areas that contained resources. Next, the miners extracted the resources (red stones, gold, diamonds, iron, and cobble stone) from these areas.  

Nomadic/Masons:

• The group decided not to create a settlement, but travel to different areas where there were resources. They would move on to another area if all the resources were extracted (this resulted in a number of lost members). They used the stone they found to create different types of tools. These tools were used to extract more resources, or used for trade. 

Communication:

• Some group members frequently got lost.  I think one cause of this was the group's lack of communication. For example, hunters did not tell the rest of the rest of the group where they were going. The group sometimes moved on without waiting for them to return. 
• This group did not listen to one another. No one responded or reacted to the different commands and comments that were made. Each player seemed to be doing their own thing. 

Team Two

Designated Specific Roles:

• Miner: Team Two found a cave that they extracted resources from. The resources would be used for building, tools, and trade.
• Construction Workers: These players utilized the resources miners extracted from their cave to create a structure. 
• Blacksmith: This player created tools for the miners, and weapons for the soldier. They crafted these objects by combining different resources.
• Soldier: The soldier protected all the workers from outsiders. He carried around tools to ward off any creature that can harm their settlement and members. 

Settlement:

• The team leader claimed a plot of land.
• The team decided to create a structure (home) near the cave where they find their valuable resources. This structure was designed to fit all group members, and protect them from severe weather and outsiders.

Resources:

• Coal, iron, gold, stone, wood, sticks, wool, dirt, birch 

Communication:

• This group was able complete many of their tasks because of their clear communication strategies. Whenever a group member made an announcement, the rest of group acknowledged it and took the proper actions to execute their objective. 
• The team leader decisively assigned his group members tasks and his team obeyed his orders without question.