[MUSIC]
JIM CULBERT:
Me and one of my colleagues
were at lunch and we're
standing in line and
we hear this parent
behind us and she says,
"You would not believe my
son and what he's doing.
He is at home and he is coding.
He went to some, I don't know,
field trip or something,
but he came back
and he is coding.
He's going to be
a genius and I'm
trying to figure out
what school I'm going
to put him in because
he now loves to code."
NADINE EBRIT:
Are you ready? All right.
JIM CULBERT:
Hearing that just brightens your day.
We started putting together
the Minecraft lab.
We're thinking that
we could bring in
two classes at a time from
an elementary school,
set it up as a one day
field trip and then
we would bring both
the students and
the teachers into
this wonderful lab,
and then let them
leave out of here with
the knowledge of how to
code using Minecraft.
NADINE EBRIT:
Raise your hand if you've ever tried to code before.
Be honest.
It's okay if you've
never touched it before.
When students initially
come into the lab,
we work with them
on free building.
During that stage, we work on
how to navigate, how
to move forward,
backwards, left, right, how to
job search through
your inventory.
Afterwards, they go into
the actual lesson and then
we do build challenges with them
at the very end
to make sure that
their field trips end
off at extreme high.
There's different types
of lessons that we do.
It really depends on which
ones the teachers choose.
Let's say they teach
science or they teach math.
They may select the lesson that
aligns to whatever they're
teaching at the time.
We also add in
assessments as well.
Students will take assessments
before and after so that
we can see our students really
learning within this
gaming environment,
or are they just playing around.
But what we're seeing is
that students are learning.
Yes. Good job.
Teachers can also use that data
to bring back to their
principals and be like,
hey, like our kids were actually
learning a lot that day.
SANAA MCBRIDE:
When they went on a field trip,
they were able to experience
the full gamut of Minecraft.
When they came back, that's
all they talked about.
When are we going back?
Now the are teachers like,
when can I take my class?
HOLLY LANHAM:
We have a much larger number of teachers asking,
tell me more.
One of our visions for
this next lab that
we plan to build
is not only to have
an opportunity for teachers to
bring students on field trips,
but we want to provide
more professional development to
teachers hands on experience.
SANAA MCBRIDE:
All of our students and a
Biscayne Elementary
Leadership Academy
are 100 percent free
and reduced lunch.
The Minecraft lab gives the
opportunity for students to
have access to those needs
that they wouldn't
necessarily have at home.
ALLISON MCGRATH:
Maybe they don't have a science lab
and they can't do
any experiments,
but they can do experiments
in Minecraft Education Edition.
Maybe they'll never
be exposed to coding,
but we can expose
them to coding here,
and they might be
willing to take up
a computer science course.
It makes learning accessible
for all students,
regardless of their abilities.
We've had students come in
with learning disabilities,
and we've also had students
that are gifted come in.
But once they're in this world,
everybody's on the same
level and they get to
guide their own learning
and they're having fun.
SANAA MCBRIDE:
There's also engaging my girls.
Girls tend to shy away from
the math and the sciences.
JIM CULBERT:
Right now in Jacksonville,
we have about 6,000
unfilled IT jobs.
As we build more and more tech
and more and more tech
comes here to Jacksonville,
we need more people
that are interested
in technology and going
into that technology field.
This lab really demonstrates to
those underprivileged
students that come here that,
wow, I can code.
This is something that is
possible for me to
do in the future.
HOLLY LANHAM:
Finding those educators that know
the curriculum and that have
a passion for students.
With that and Minecraft,
you're going to provide
an experience for
students no matter
what scale it is.
You don't have to go
grand. Just start.