Playing In The Virtual Sandbox Students Collaborative Practices In Minecraft
Minecraft is among the most played games ever created, having sold over 100 million copies since its launch in 2009 (Huddleston 2016,). Sandbox games allow players to build, explore or discover ways to live in virtual environments. It is particularly loved by young people (Thompson 2016). Educators are taking note and are looking at ways to incorporate Minecraft into their teaching (Timoner, 2014). Minecraft is being used in the classroom to teach subjects such as math and physics computational thinking, creativity and creative thinking, digital citizenship, history and collaboration (e.g. Cipollone. Minecraft java Schifter. & Moffat 2014; Craft 2016, 2016; Hill 2015; Overby & Jones 2015; Short 2012). A Minecraft: Education Edition is available to assist teachers in using Minecraft with students. Minecraft camps and workshops are becoming more popular outside of the classroom. Educators' interest in Minecraft is part of a broader trend of learning through games (Gee, 2007, 2008; Plass, Homer, & Kinzer, 2015; Squire, 2006, 2008). These efforts are based on the constructivist method of education, where learners actively build knowledge through activities that are open-ended and require problem-solving and decision-making.
Despite the widespread enthusiasm for Minecraft's use to support learning, only a few studies have been done. We lack empirical evidence documenting the benefits to learning that are associated with using Minecraft to teach specific skills, as well as the conditions under which these benefits can be realized. As long as there is no evidence, efforts to include Minecraft and other multiplayer games into learning and teaching will be based on hunches and guesses, not empirically supported best practices.
This study aims at filling this gap in knowledge by investigating middle school students' collaboration when playing Minecraft in small groups with 4 or more players. We chose to focus on collaboration due to its centrality to learning (Johnson Johnson & Johnson 1989; Rogoff, 1998; Roschelle, 1992) and because multiplayer games are specifically designed to facilitate collaboration (Gee, 2007; Plass et al., 2015; Squire, 2006, 2008; Steinkuehler, 2004). Although we acknowledge that collaboration is often utilized in conjunction with other pedagogical goals, this study intentionally isolates collaboration as the focus of investigation. Previous research has demonstrated that students struggle to collaborate effectively, which could have negative consequences for their learning outcomes (e.g. Barron, 2003). Thus, collaboration is itself a skill that students must develop in order to experience the benefits of collaboration in learning and thus warrants a specific study.
We focused our analysis on the kinds of discourse roles that players engaged in while playing the game, such as asking, responding, instructing and encouraging (Bluemink, Hamalainen, Manninen and Jarvela, 2010). These findings provide fresh insights into the factors that support or hinder collaboration of high quality in Minecraft. These insights will be useful for educators who are interested in using Minecraft and other multiplayer games to encourage collaboration among their students.
