Abstract:

This work covers a synchronous collaborative project on urban sustainability experimented in Minecraft, a 3D virtual sandbox block-building-game with online multiplayer capability, with a group of 13 K8 students. Especially in emergency cases, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, distance learning struggles to create an environment conducive to student-centric learning. To date, very few synchronous projects have been conducted remotely: generally, collaborative projects in Minecraft with underage students have been carried out in person or asynchronously. The new perspective of this work is to go beyond the concept of the classroom as the only learning environment, opening up teaching methods other than the widespread use of online screen-sharing.

The experimental group was composed of four teams of 3-4 K8 students, who were asked to build a model of a sustainable city accessing Minecraft (Education edition) from home and independently organizing the division of tasks and times. A maximum time of one month was fixed to complete the assignment. In the project, the teacher was acting as supporter of the classroom activities.

The topic of Urban Sustainability was chosen in the frame of the teaching of Agenda 2030 goals in the Italian middle school. In particular, their work was focused on reducing consumption and saving energy and water, the use of green urban transportations, the production and use of renewable energy. Periodical meetings were scheduled by the teacher to verify the state of the art of the projects, giving support and suggesting new activities. A group of the same class participate only to an online lesson about urban sustainability (multimedia presentation), acting therefore as a control group.

At the end of the activity, a test was delivered to both groups, with questions about carbon footprint, transportation, smart buildings and energy. The results showed the achievement of very good results for the experimental group, suggesting that the activity was useful to acquire a deeper knowledge about the topics proposed during the project and make the students more aware about sustainability. A satisfaction questionnaire was administered to the experimental group to inquire also about the acquisition on new digital skills and their grade of satisfaction. The work of the group participating to the Minecraft activity, was also monitored by the teacher and assessed thanks to the observation of the way they worked, doing small interviews during their activity, evaluating the digital products created and the answers to the questionnaire.

The results helped the students to open up to new scenarios on how to improve urban sustainability topics, leaving students free to build their own learning path and to be active actors in the organization of their knowledge.

Keywords:

Minecraft, urban sustainability.