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LESSON TITLE: Minecraft Landscapes

GRADE LEVEL FOR THIS LESSON: 4th Grade
LESSON PLAN
COMPONENT

CRITERIA

Lesson Introduction

Students are learning about landscapes and their impact on

the people that lived there, including the type of food they ate,
the types of dwellings they build, and defensive systems or
escape routes. Many children have never traveled out of their
own state and are unfamiliar with other surroundings. Using
Minecraft, students will explore new landscapes by building
shelters, finding food, planting and harvesting food,
encountering and possibly hunting animals.

Standards

ISTE Standards
1. Creativity and Innovation: Students demonstrate creative
thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and
processes using technology.
a. Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products or
processes.
b. Create original works as a means of personal or group
expression.
c. Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and
issues.
2. Communication and 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.
a. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others
employing a variety of digital environments and media.
d. Contribute to project teams to produce original works or
solve problems.
NH Curriculum Framework
SS:GE:4:5.1: Illustrate how people modify the physical
environment, e.g., irrigation projects or clearing land for human
use. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, D: Material
Wants and Needs)
SS:GE:4:5.2: Examine the ways in which the physical
environment provides opportunities or limitations, e.g., natural
resources that first attracted settlers or natural hazards that
threaten life. (Themes: C: People, Places and Environment, D:
Material Wants and Needs)
SS:GE:4:5.4: Describe the role of natural resources in daily life,
e.g., food, clothing, or shelter. (Themes: D: Material Wants and
Needs)

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Learner Outcomes

Students will demonstrate an understanding of the impact

of the physical environment on human settlers.

Essential Questions

1. How does the landscape impact humans?

2. Which features of a landscape are helpful or harmful to
humans? Why?
3. What resources do all humans need to survive?

Anticipatory Set

Tell students that they get to play Minecraft! When they stop
cheering, explain to them that they will be placed in a new
biome. They need to survive by paying careful attention to the
landscape: what materials will they use for shelter or food or
weapons? Tell the students that they will be working in
partnerships.

Procedures

1.
2.
3.
4.

5.
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7.
8.
9.

Assign student partnerships.

Demonstrate to students how to set up a new game. Provide a
screenshot of the settings you want the students to select so that
each partnership will be assigned a different landscape.
Most students know how to play Minecraft. Provide tutorials
for students who are new to the game.
Give students a chance to explore their landscape. Remind
them to pay careful attention to their landscape, the shape of the
land, the plants, animals, water sources, etc. Have students take
screen shots and save them as they work. They will use these in
their final presentations.
After students have played for about 45 minutes, have the class
come together for a discussion.
Students should discuss the features of their biomes and how
they have helped or harmed them as they tried to survive.
Students can share ideas with each other. Help the students to
make connections about how they are like the early natives in
the real world as they are playing in a simulation.
Students will work for about five, 45-minutes sessions to
continue to build and survive in their biome.
At the conclusion of the final day, students will continue
working with their partners and begin to answer the three
essential questions using the experience gained from Minecraft.
Students will select 5-10 screenshots of their progress in their
biome to present to the class, along with their analysis of the
connection between landscapes and their impact on human
survival.

Differentiation

All modifications/accommodations identified on

Individualized Education Plans or 504 Plans are addressed.

Closure (wrap-up)

Students will present screen shots of their work in Minecraft

to the class along with their analysis of how features of their
landscapes were helpful or harmful to their survival.

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Assessment(s):
FORMATIVE/
SUMMATIVE

Students adaptability and survival in their Minecraft

landscape, as well as class discussions throughout the process
will serve as a formative assessment.
The screenshots and final presentation with the analysis will
serve as a summative assessment. Students will be scored on
their understanding and performance using a rubric.

Legal Modifications

All modifications/accommodations identified on

Individualized Education Plans or 504 Plans are addressed.

Reflective Practice

This lesson and assessment address the NH Curriculum

Framework by allowing students to explore various
landscapes in relevant and engaging ways. Students
essentially have the chance to experience what it is like to be
an early native in a new land.

Materials

LCD projector connected to a computer or laptop

Computers/Chromebooks/iPads for each student
Minecraft or MinecraftEdu