History, Community and Minecraft with 3rd grade

3rd grade: A year-long study

“What does it mean to be a community?”

My third grade students study the history of the City of Chicago throughout the school year as their central topic. In the library the last couple years, I have designed year long programs and projects that connect to the learning students are doing in the classroom. Last year the class made deeper connections with the city and different communities that lived in the area of history and how transportation was an essential part of the fabric of the city. This year, in collaboration with the third grade teachers and the Ed tech teacher, we decided to focus on the driving question “What does it mean to be a community?”

In the fall, students learned more about the Ojibwe Peoples and focused on learning more about the different jobs and roles members of the tribe had and how they worked together to benefit the whole community. Students collected research and then sorted different responsibilities to create a master list of jobs. Then working in small groups, students designed logos for one of the jobs. Each group needed to think of three aspects of the job and how they could represent the work on connected puzzle pieces. Next, we used the laser cutter we have to engrave the students designs on wood pieces and we displayed them on the windows in the library with written explanations with facts about the Ojibwe Peoples from each group. Each group created a write up about their logo design and included research and information about the Ojibwe Peoples to explain their designs. All of the student work was displayed in the hallway outside the library for the community to explore.

In the winter, the focus shifted to the growth of the City of Chicago and the influx of immigrants to the city. In the library we focused on Jane Addams and Hull House. Hull House was a settlement house founded by Jane Addams on the westside of the city to provide essential services to the immigrant population of the the growing neighborhood. This project included research, exploration of primary source documents, and books and online databases. First we read the book The House that Jane Built by Tanya Lee Stone. The book shares details about Jane’s life, the inspiration for the founding of Hull House, the services and her work to expand social services. We then talked about why Hull House would be important to the community. Students shared ideas and thoughts about supporting immigrant populations and supporting people in a community. We made deeper connections to our driving year long question “what does it mean to be a community?” After they read the book, students were given folders with pictures and drawings from Hull House that were shared from the Hull House museum archives and other sources. Students studied the pictures and drawings focusing on what the images showed them about programs and resources that Hull House provided, third graders collected notes in their field guides. Then students were given packets with facts and information about Hull House including Britannica online database articles and information collected from a variety of resources. Students took more notes about the services provided and why they were important for the neighborhood.

After the research and exploration part of the project, students were given a design challenge; Create a virtual Hull House museum in Minecraft. Students worked in group of threes to design and build replicas of Hull House focusing on highlighting what they learned about the organization and the services that Hull House provided to the community. First, groups brainstormed about the three areas they were going to focus on to build. Many students decided to design and build the library, nursery or kitchen. They also learned that Hull House had a theater where plays were put on and a music room where community members could learn how to play instruments and sing. Third graders also learned all about the playground that was the first public playground in Chicago and the gymnasium for exercise. They learned that very few of the houses had running water so Hull House provided a bath house for neighbors to come and shower to prevent the spread of illness. After the students decided on the rooms they were going to build, they worked with their partners to map out their Hull House ideas. Next, students moved into their Minecraft world. We set up servers so that student groups were all working in the same world to build. Students needed to talk to each other, negotiate and navigate their designs to make sure their rooms were connected and worked together. In their own rooms they focused on designing their rooms based on the research they did on Hull House, what would need to be each of the rooms to offer the programs that Hull House provided to the community. The final step was students recording audio tours of their Hull House museums to share with the community and educate the school about Hull House and the services it provided to the neighborhood.

This project was great for several reasons, it allowed students creativity in how they shared what they learned while still focusing on research skills and collecting information from print, digital and visual resources. The project focused on collaboration skills, students worked in small groups and designed and planned together to build their Hull House museums and write their scripts for their audio tours. For some students it was their first time building in Minecraft and for other students they are experts in Minecraft, this project allowed students to also be teachers, sharing their expertise in Minecraft with other students and being empowered to be teachers. Students were engaged and excited to learn more about Hull House and also to be able to create, design and share their ideas through Minecraft.

Next up Virtual Reality and Chicago Neighborhoods!