Define > Dissect > Design = 3D Print Using MinecraftEDU

Students at Adams Middle School were given a life-like challenge to modify various puzzles with very small pieces for a child with a visual impairment. CTE Teacher, Mrs. Sheila Greene, wanted her students to practice an engineering skill called mechanical dissection of an object to understand an object's detailed design.

To modify the puzzle, you first have to mechanically dissect the layers of the puzzle. The first step into dissection is to isometrically draw all of the pieces of the puzzle on graph paper for accuracy to get an understanding of the 2D layers.  Jeremy F. said, “I like how I can see my mistakes, not to mention how this helps me in robotics and computer science.” 

 

Students documented the following in their journal during the investigation:

• Steps for how you assemble and disassemble the toy.
• Multiview sketch of each puzzle piece.
• Fully dimensioned sketch of the puzzle pieces

“This type of learning is preparing me to become a mechanical engineer,” said Jonathan F. 

This 2021-2022 school year NISD purchased Minecraft Education Edition for teachers and students to integrate into any content area.  Minecraft Education Edition is a game-based learning platform that promotes creativity, collaboration and problem-solving in a digital environment.  Common Sense Media states about Minecraft EDU, “Minecraft EDU is an excellent tool to engage students in learning, collaboration, and critical thinking and is now more accessible than ever to teachers.” 

To bring real world connections to the project, Mrs. Greene challenged her students to use digital tools to design larger puzzle pieces that will be printed on the 3D printer. Students needed to use their math and thinking skills to tinker with the X, Y, and Z axes to get the model placed into the build area

Being that Minecraft is new to NISD, Mrs. Greene did not know how to execute the program, but after a conversation with one of her expert students, Ayden, he volunteered to create a video tutorial and teach the class.  

 Click Image Above for Ayden’s Tutorial

As Ayden showed students how to print their work, Evan T. circulated among students helping them with Minecraft settings and block placement.  Now students in Robotics 1 are also using what they learned from Ayden and Evan and other student experts to create Minecraft-themed decorations to 3D print for their pull-toy mechanism.  Mrs. Greene said, “it is so cool to see students teaching each other and figuring out solutions together -- that’s real world collaboration and skill-building that increases their confidence and their trust in each other at the same time.”

 At the end of the experience, students will print their images on the Dremel 3D Printer. Check out some of their work below:

All of the NISD Minecraft for Education resources can be found here.  Feel free to contact your campus Instructional Technologist to answer any questions you might have. 

Gaming as a SPORT: Expanding Opportunities for Students to Belong and Compete through eSports

Fall means the start of a new sports season! Tryouts are held and a roster is set based on player interests, abilities, and team needs. Practice schedules are created. Preseason matches occur then come regular season games and tournaments; the team works towards Playoffs and has the ultimate goal of making it to Finals. Fans attend to root for the home team and players hope for college recruiters to see their skills and potentially offer scholarships. The competition is tough, but skillful strategizing and teamwork can lead to a big win and open doors for future opportunities.

Nope, this isn't describing the upcoming football season -- this is a look at the new Fall eSports Season! As much as video games seem like a just-for-fun activity, this past time is becoming recognized as a varsity level sport in addition to Generation eSports being selected as the exclusive sponsor for the University Interscholastic League (UIL).

Two Eaton student going head-to-head in the Smash Ultimate Grand Finals.

Depending on the streaming requirements of the game being played, students will either use the designated Alienware PCs or their own gaming devices, such as Nintendo Switches. 

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• Almost 1 Billion awarded in eSports Tournament Prize money in 2021 alone
• Gamers have opportunities to play in front of college recruiters and win scholarships
• Kids can turn a passion into a career in the gaming field
• The 2022 High School eSports League (HSEL) National Championship is hosted in our own 'backyard' at eSports Stadium Arlington
• eSports has competitors across several continents. The Google Map below shows the competitors at the world, national, state, and our own local level for HSEL competitions for the Spring 2021

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"The purpose of eSports is to provide opportunities for ALL students to have a platform to acquire critical communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills needed to thrive in work and in life as outlined by the NISD Profile of a Graduate" - NISD eSports Code of Conduct

Students at Eaton High School, Northwest High School, and Steele Early College High School participate in eSports Clubs as part of both casual and competitive teams. Student leaders on the various campuses coordinate with their game-based team on practice schedules and upcoming goals for league games.

Students at each of NISD 's high school eSports programs have top-of-the-line gaming PCs from Alienware including the PC and device peripherals such as Alienware mice, keyboards, and headsets.

Popular games on NISD campuses play games include Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, Overwatch, Valorant, Rocket League, and League of Legends offered through either the High School eSports League or the PlayVS league; because students have the opportunity to complete in two different leagues, this increases their opportunities for tournament play and competitions to enter. Students communicate game preferences and teams are formed based on student numbers and interests. For example, Super Smash Bros compete in teams of 3 whereas Valorant complete in teams of 5 and Overwatch in teams of 6.

Did you know? Eaton High School had teams compete in PLAYOFFS of different games in each of the past two years!

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Why is eSports an important program? 

What skills are kids getting as a result of their involvement?

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All of the NISD eSports clubs are welcoming new students. Show up and we will find a place for you to belong!

Get more through this NISD blog eSports: More Than Just Fun and Games and by exploring the NISD eSports Code of Conduct.

Esports: More Than Just Fun and Games

Einstein said, “Education is not the learning of facts, but training the mind to think.” Teaching
students how to think and how to succeed helps develop those “soft skills” we all frequently hear about as students transition out of formal education. These time tested skills are not just another educational trend or revolving initiative. Characteristics like communication, integrity, empathy, professionalism, time management, responsibility, teamwork, and critical thinking are things that contribute to our social and emotional development and they are what helps us, as humans, to be able to successfully adapt to a variety of situations. What many educators differ on is how to go about facilitating the development of these skills and characteristics in our students.

One way to develop these skills is in the growing realm of esports. It is a relevant place that can not only support Social Emotional Learning initiatives, but it can also facilitate many of those soft skills we want students to gain. In fact, the mission of the North America Scholastic Esports Federation (NASEF) is “to provide opportunities for ALL students to use esports as a platform to acquire critical communication, collaboration, and problem solving skills needed to thrive and work in life.” Esports does not just facilitate gamers getting together to play video games, but alternatively, it ensures “that ALL students possess the knowledge and skills needed to be society’s game changers: educated, productive, and empathetic individuals.”

Mr. Fidel Sanchez, a science teacher at V.R. Eaton High School, is leading the charge to establish Eaton’s very own esports club. To the inexperienced gamer, this new club seems like a fun break for students from the regular grind of a traditional learning environment. However, it is way more than it appears on the surface. Esports is projected to become a billion dollar industry in the next year and not just due to hosted events that resemble what you might see at the Super Bowl or World Cup Soccer. Esports has the potential to help a large number of students access college through NCAA scholarship opportunities and related career paths. The Eaton esports group meets twice a week to practice and develop a very complex and impressive skill set. The goal is to build a team that can compete interscholastically for large scale academic recognition, scholarships, and career opportunities.

Michael, a sophomore on Eaton’s team, explains that he loves to participate not only to have fun but also to have the opportunity to be competitive at something he enjoys. He and his teammates, Andy and Larry, feel that esports helps them to develop better communication skills. Parker, a junior orchestra student, agreed that participating in esports has helped him to “be more social” and build the skills necessary to positively interact with others. Kameron, a sophomore team member, agreed and explained that the communication students learn through esports is different than most socialization and in order to be successful, one has to be able to “stay calm during competition and communicate professionally with their teammates to build trust.” He pointed out that “unprofessional communication does not help teammates to believe in your ability to deal with challenges,” which is important for a team to be successful. Beau is a freshman student on the team who says that there is no place for students to “be toxic or to fight with other players.” All the students agreed that participating in esports encourages them “to stay on top of their grades and to prioritize” because maintaining the level of skill needed for competition takes at least an hour or two of practice each night.

These Eaton students hope to see this activity grow larger among younger audiences here at EHS and across the country. They recommend that for anyone interested in getting involved in esports to “just start playing.” They suggest spending time learning about various roles, different strategies, and “champions” (characters) in games like League of Legends or Super Smash Bros. and to work to develop the style of play for their role and “champion.” These students also suggest finding adults like Mr. Sanchez , who are just as passionate about gaming to help them organize and advocate for resources and opportunities necessary for their club’s growth.

Mythical Mayhem: Learning Mythology via Student-Created Game

Athena, Hades, & Zeus... oh my! What's better than a fun online game? One that is fun, educational, and created by students. 

Eaton High School Computer Science and English students have been working together on a cross-curricular project to create an educational game to learn Greek Mythology. English students supplied details of several gods and goddesses they learned in class, including storylines, attributes, strengths, weakness, etc. to Computer Science students, who are using their Java programming skills to create an educational game. The goal of the game is for players to learn about Greek Mythology characters, advancing up multiple levels based on the players' demonstrated knowledge of each character.

Students are facilitating this project in Google Drive and used Google Folders to organize the content, planning documents, resources, graphics, and student-created video progress updates. As the "customers", English students and their teacher were able to collaborate in Google Docs to model a real-world game design contract to ensure all parties were in agreement on the details of the final product before any coding began. Now that the Computer Science students are in development phase, with a project manager, coding team leader, and graphics team leader, all ensuring the details of the project are progressing smoothly. One of the most powerful components of this project is the series of progress videos that students create. A portion of one of these videos is below:

This project is still ongoing, so the game is not yet complete. This short screencast shows the look and feel of the game thus far:

Not only is this project fun and educational, students are also demonstrating several technology skills they are expected to possess in order to be future ready learners, including:

• Creativity & innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.

• Critical thinking, problem solving, & decision making: Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. 

• Communication & collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

To learn more about Eaton's Computer Science program, follow them on Twitter: @EatonCompSci

#WillCodeForDonuts