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Paper—Designing Learning Activities in Minecraft for Formal Education in Geography
Designing Learning Activities in Minecraft
for Formal Education in Geography
https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v18i04.36307
Ítalo Sousa de Sena, Zdeněk Stachoň()
Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
zstachon@geogr.muni.cz
Abstract—Digital technology has shaped the way humans interact with
information and create knowledge. These conditions have in turn shaped a gen-
eration of people who experienced virtual environments very early in their lives
and are often referred to as digital natives. This group of people has a particular
way of communicating and interacting. It characterizes their afnity spaces and
the many experiences with virtual worlds and digital games. In digital games,
the separation between entertainment and learning is becoming less pronounced.
Many game titles have been used for educational purposes. An iconic example
is Minecraft, which has been used formally in some schools to teach topics on
the environment. However, studies on formal topics in Geography are conspic-
uously absent, and we therefore selected Minecraft to understand how digital
natives learn about Geography given the character of its virtual environment.
To this aim, we developed a learning task scenario for global climate zones. The
scenario was tested in two pilot studies with two different groups of participants.
The results indicate that participants already share some degree of knowledge
about the game environment, despite differences within the digital native group.
Using the results of the pilot studies, we discuss the design choices to engage
players in the game’s learning activity.
Keywords—digital game, education, geogame, geography
1 Introduction
Digital natives are people who were born during the digital transformation that has
taken place over the past few decades [1]. Having been immersed in digital technology,
digital natives interact differently with virtual environments than previous generations.
Learning with new technologies is the setting for developing skills related to twenty-
rst century challenges.
The context of learning in the digital era has shifted the level of complexity in this
process. While the focus in the twentieth century was on acquiring basic literacy skills,
in the twenty-rst century, the process of critical thinking, problem-solving and com-
munication is more important. This includes developing the ability to express oneself
persuasively through language and media [2].
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Paper—Designing Learning Activities in Minecraft for Formal Education in Geography
In view of how digital technology is changing the learning process, digital games have
an important role. The popularization of digital games and platforms in the past three
decades has supported an expansion of game culture which already existed. The digital
game culture is expanding and forms a part of digital natives’ identities. The number of
people who play digital games is also increasing, mainly because of the availability of
mobile games for smartphones. This is reected in the gures for the game industry’s
prots, which ranged from 21.46 billion US dollars in 1990 to 196.8 billion in 2022.
Released more than a decade ago, Minecraft is one of the most sold games in video
game history. The game has had an impact on its community, garnering more than a
hundred million digital native players since. This context has formed what James Paul
Gee [3] calls “afnity spaces”, which is a place where teaching and learning processes
happen beyond formal institutions and frameworks. In the case of Minecraft, these
spaces are formed by a community of players who interact through online forums,
Minecraft public and private servers, and in schools which make use of Minecraft Edu-
cational Edition. In the context of interaction in these spaces, “people are fully engaged
in helping each other to learn, act, and produce, regardless of their age, place of origin,
formal credentials, or level of expertise” [3, p. 9].
Regarding the pedagogical applications of Minecraft, many examples of content
are being produced to address formal and informal learning topics. A variety of pre-
built worlds exist, and in searching for Minecraft worlds with keywords, we found
8 results for ‘climate’, 265 results for ‘biome’, 2 results for ‘sustainability’, 101 results
for ‘environment’. It shows the relevance of the game to environmentally related con-
tent. Among the subjects where the game can be used as media to communicate and
engage with students, geography is able to take full advantage of it. However, studies
on geography learning in Minecraft are still incipient and investigate geographic issues
and concepts such as sustainability, climate change and urban planning [4]–[6].
Despite Minecraft’s popularity, inuence and potential for learning, examples of
studies on topics related to education in geography using the game’s virtual environ-
ment are yet to be further explored. In this regard, some questions arise on the topic of
designing learning activities in the game.
For example, what elements should be considered to design and test a geography
learning task using Minecraft? How do we measure the cognitive processes related to
the presented scenario?
These questions have guided the design of gamied learning activities in Minecraft,
taking advantage of the players’ knowledge of the game. To achieve this, we performed
exploratory studies using Minecraft to develop and test an educational activity for
geography. The motivation came from deliberations on the aesthetics in Minecraft and
the mechanics, patterns and rules which have become deeply rooted in former and
actual players. We consider that the so far more than one decade of afnity space which
has been created around the game has shaped the way digital natives interact with the
specic structure of its virtual environment.
To investigate this hypothesis, we proceeded with a four-stage process of research.
First, we surveyed digital native participants to understand their proles related to
Minecraft mechanics and aesthetics. Second, we created a prototype for the game, using
a topic from the regular school curriculum. The third and fourth stages were pilot stud-
ies with different groups of participants. The results of the pilot studies were assessed
from the perspectives of design and player experience.
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2 Related work
2.1 Environmental storytelling
From the perspective of using digital games for education and training, many concepts
such as serious games [7], [8], game-based learning [9], [10] and gamication [11], [12]
have emerged. All of these concepts are derived from the game design eld. The design
principles for analogue and digital games are the same and consider a conceptual game
as a starting point. A game can be dened in many ways, but it can be understood sim-
ply as a set of rules to be followed to achieve an objective or outcome [13]. Games may
be also considered designed systems that offer specic conditions of engagement, rules
that lead to stylized forms of interaction [9].
A few decades ago, researchers in the game design eld discussed the rules of ludology
and narratology in view of classifying what a game is. At the time, Henry Jenkins
highlighted that game designers (and researchers) must be attentive to the particularity
of games as a medium, specically in distinguishing them from other narrative tradi-
tions [15]. Jenkins denes the concept of environmental storytelling in which the game
designer sculpts a ‘world’ to be played in before any other mechanic or story is created.
In the case of a digital game, the player interacts with a virtual environment (2D or 3D)
which dictates the possibilities and constraints of gameplay. Interactivity in a digital
game is one of its advantages compared to traditional games. The possibility to create
virtual environments also enables different design approaches.
In that sense, a digital game can be created to represent real aspects of a place and
used as a scenario for educational activities. The structure of the narrative is able to
convey the player to an experience directly related to the understanding of his/her sur-
roundings. In the book Playing with Nature – Ecology in Video Games [16], Alenda
Chang presented examples of games that communicate environmentally related topics
to the player alongside the notion of games being designed to express and function as
environmental systems. The author also commented on the design choice of providing
an open virtual world for exploration. There are many advantages in unstructured play
which provide “the chance to learn about natural processes and life cycles, or how
people, animals, plants, and inorganic matter are connected; educated mentorship, or
a guiding presence knowledgeable enough to provide more information about what one
is experiencing; and hands-on activity with actual consequences” [16, p. 4].
2.2 Minecraft’s virtual world and learning
Among the digital games portraying environmental systems as a part of its mechanics
and aesthetics, Minecraft has the spotlight. The adoption of a biome based on procedural
world generation set the basis for developing mechanics related to exploring and gather-
ing resources from the environment. An open world and its representation of landscapes
gives players the freedom to interact with the virtual environment as they want and to
experiment and modify it to test hypotheses. The blocky aspect of Minecraft contains
the intrinsic potential for supporting spatial skills development. Carbonell-Carrerra
et al. demonstrated that the game offers good results and opportunities for improving
mental rotation tasks [17].
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Paper—Designing Learning Activities in Minecraft for Formal Education in Geography
Considering the game’s inuence on contemporary digital play, Minecraft has
undoubtedly established a new level of using digital games for educational purposes
[18]. The game’s virtual environment and basic mechanics full an important aspect of
effective learning by connecting the game experience with the real world [19]. A survey
in Melbourne, Australia, collected information about children’s gameplay experiences
with Minecraft. The results showed that Minecraft is the most popular digital game
title played by children in the age group 3–12 years and that the most frequently used
gameplay devices are tablets [18, p. 3294].
Baek et al. conducted a systematic review of Minecraft and education from 28 arti-
cles which concluded that the most explored subject using the game was language and
arts, followed by information technology and mathematics [19]. The most common
activity using the game is play, but examples where students craft, build and modify the
game as part of a learning task are also evident. The study showed that the game has
a positive effect on students’ level of interest, motivation, and learning. However, the
authors also noted the scarcity of experimental studies with the game and that qualita-
tive studies are more commonly reported.
Steinbeiß [20] also presented this nding, arguing that a need exists for the ground-
work to produce learning environments in Minecraft. The author argued for observa-
tions on how specic designs could provide content to inuence the learning outcomes.
The use of a design-based research model for developing lessons using Minecraft led to
the proposal of a tool called the Steinbeiß-Ruotsalainen Model for Formal, Non-Formal
and Informal Learning with Minecraft. In this model, the learning process takes place in
seven stages. It starts with an introduction outside the game environment, followed by
an in-game tour, in-classroom evaluations, in-game tasks (quests), a reection phase, a
free to play phase, a second evaluation and rewards. In this model, the teacher’s role is
a facilitator rather than a gure who imposes.
The game’s mechanics apply a simple coordinate system which the players can use to
locate themselves. The coordinate system is not natively visible to players, but it can be
switched on by pressing the F3 key (Java Edition). It will display a range of information
about the game status along with the x, y and z coordinates of the player. Based on this sys-
tem, the vanilla version (classic with no modications) contains items related to the coordi-
nate system and navigation. Two interesting examples are ‘empty maps’ and ‘cartography
table’. The rst item can be created in the game by combining paper and a compass and
used to map the player’s surroundings. It functions according to a tile system (128x128
blocks). The ‘cartography table’ allows the player to copy or change the map scale.
Minecraft’s virtual world facilitates the creation of custom worlds. Using geospatial
data, real landscapes can be recreated in the game. Many examples show the use of real
geospatial data to create virtual environments in Minecraft [5], [21]–[26]. The possibil-
ity to use real geospatial data in Minecraft allows the creation of virtual environments
which can be applied to many different uses. One of them is to recreate a certain land-
scape for presentation to players. Using interoperability and GIS, Sena et al. [27] cre-
ated an example of an adventure game to teach about cultural landscapes. Despite not
being designed for formal education, the game presented players with several concepts,
such as geological risk, geodiversity, heritage, and identity.
In this context, Minecraft provides an immersive experience to learn about envi-
ronmentally related topics. Content creation benets from the game’s aesthetics by
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Paper—Designing Learning Activities in Minecraft for Formal Education in Geography
representing natural elements such as vegetation, topography, geology, and hydrology
[19]. However, design decisions also potentially affect the effectiveness of the virtual
environment in presenting educational content. Short [28] explained that excessive
information exhibited to the student may be overwhelming and that presenting specic
content supports a deeper interpretation of educational content. The author suggested
that although simulations of the real world such as those in Minecraft can generate
engagement and motivation, high levels of delity may distract students from the main
topic being introduced.
From a game design perspective, there are methods to combine pedagogical use by
experimenting with the game design. Designing educational content in the form of a
game requires a selection of actions that move the student/player towards the educa-
tional content. It is therefore important to think about the type of activity related to the
game experience, and although this will vary according to the media and platform the
game is played on, all games may be considered a subset of playful activity [16].
Developing an educational digital game is comparable to the concept of experimen-
tal game design. In this concept, the design of a process is the focal point of prototyping
and testing. Every change in the game process can fundamentally change it, considering
that a game is a complex set of design decisions that introduces challenges in isolating
and varying a specic factor [29]. One aspect of designing a learning environment in a
game is to provide feedback to player actions in the game, thereby supporting knowl-
edge acquisition from the presented content. A reward-based learning environment can
function as a motivational tool during formal and informal learning phases, but it is not
enough to assure the learning outcome [20].
To address all these aspects in designing a learning activity in Minecraft, playtesting
is an important part of a game’s development process. In the early stages of prototyp-
ing, designers usually invite colleagues to playtest and give feedback. However, “inter-
nal playtesting very easily turns into designers designing for themselves rather than the
intended audience” [22]. In this case, it is preferable to playtest the game with the target
group to ensure that the proposed activity design suitably communicates the content.
3 Methodology
The rst stage of the study started with a survey of digital native university students,
the second stage implemented and play tested prototypes (Figure 1). This stage was
conducted from September 2021 to February 2022. The survey was designed to
extract information about the general aspects of players’ proles and experiences with
Minecraft. This step gave us some understanding of how players and former players
recognize textures in the game’s environment. The questionnaire contained two sets of
questions, seven questions for the rst and nineteen for the second. The rst set asked
about previous experience with the game and content; the second set tested knowledge
of the game’s aesthetics. Specically, the participants were asked to identify the blocks
from different game versions. Depending on their previous experience, they would rec-
ognize it or not.
The survey’s results supported the selection of a geography curriculum topic that
would be explored using the game’s environment. The current geography curriculum
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Paper—Designing Learning Activities in Minecraft for Formal Education in Geography
for K-12 in the Czech Republic was consulted to identify potential topics for explora-
tion with Minecraft. As a topic, we selected global climate zones, as Minecraft would
be able to link block textures to specic types of environment. This feature arises
from the game’s block texture aesthetics and biome representation. The selected topic
explored the distribution of ve climate zones classied by Köppen: wet tropical, dry,
mildly warm, mildly cold, and polar. Each climate zone is specied by a series of envi-
ronmental conditions, such as precipitation and air temperature.
The conceptual design for the prototype employed Minecraft’s mechanics for
teleporting the player from a platform to a selected climate zone, pulling levers and
pressing buttons. This mechanic supported the following tasks related to a quest-based
exploration in game.
Producing the tasks using Minecraft was based on the methods and techniques pre-
sented by de Sena et al. [27]. The principle involved using geospatial data to create
a Minecraft virtual environment, followed by establishing the game mechanics using
a set of modications. Blocks (textures) were assigned to depict each climate zone:
wet tropical (A) – jungle forest biome blocks; dry (B) – desert biome blocks; mildly
warm (C) – savannah/deciduous forest biomes blocks; mildly cold (D) – spruce/tundra
biomes and podzol blocks; polar (E) – cold biome, ice, and snow blocks. The second
stage of the methodological process is detailed in the following sections.
Fig. 1. Methodological process
3.1 Prototyping and rst tests
The Minecraft aesthetics, which represent procedurally generated landscapes based
on biomes, supported our decision to depict global climate zones in the proposed edu-
cational task. For game design, we selected the development approach proposed by
Fullerton [30]. For the game activity, we designed a conceptual model which incor-
porated Minecraft’s mechanics and followed the form of an exploratory quest. In this
activity, players would be able to explore the climate zones and interpret the main envi-
ronmental features. The concept aimed to stimulate thinking about the geographical
aspects of the environment in relation to each climate zone. The activity invited players
to gather information from the environment to answer questions and accomplish quests.
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Paper—Designing Learning Activities in Minecraft for Formal Education in Geography
The virtual environment was created according to the basic rules stated in the concep-
tual game. The game was developed for Minecraft Java Edition, version 1.16.5. All
prototyping and playtesting were done using Forge 36.2.0, which permits modications
to the standard version of Minecraft.
3.2 Creating the virtual environment
The virtual environment was created using software and several tools for working
with geospatial data and Minecraft. First, we recreated a map of the climate zones to
be displayed using the same block textures encountered in the game. The model was
produced using a combination of ETL software (FME) and applications for creating a
Minecraft map (Mineways,1 Amulet2 and WorldPainter3). Raster and vector data were
combined to create a terrain model with a layer of blocks representing ve climate
zones. Each climate zone was depicted by a specic Minecraft block which suitably
represented the zone’s characteristics, as mentioned above in Section 3.
The Minecraft world was designed to represent ve climate zones and incorporate
the general environmental features that characterize each zone’s biome and landscape.
Minecraft’s aesthetics and mechanics feature the concept of biomes, and each biome
has its own set of blocks and textures. For this reason, and considering the massive
community of players, the blocks are easily recognizable by players.
WorldPainter software was an ideal tool to create the representations for each
climate zone since it allows modication of Minecraft worlds. Using this software,
we produced a model for each of the climate zones, with two variations for the
mildly warm climate zone (CI and CII) (Figure 2). Using a selection of custom
brushes, biome layers and terrain properties, it was possible to create islands where
the player would have the feeling of being in a specic climate zone. To prevent
players from seeing other islands from a distance, we dened a render distance
limit, and to prevent players from swimming or sailing from one island to another,
we applied barrier blocks to create a bounding box. The terrain for each climate
zone consisted of the blocks described above, providing a visual link to the textures
represented in the map room.
A selection of game modications added the mechanics which allowed us to apply
the concept. The main modication was Custom NPCs.4 Created by the player Noopes_,
this modication provides non-playable characters (NPC) in the java version of Mine-
craft and allows the introduction of dialogues and quest systems and scripting with
commands, etc. Another modication we used was Dynamic Surroundings. Created by
the player OreCruncher, the modication adds ambient sounds according to the Mine-
craft biome the player is in.
1 https://www.realtimerendering.com/erich/minecraft/public/mineways/
2 https://www.amuletmc.com/
3 https://www.worldpainter.net/
4 https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/custom-npcs
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Paper—Designing Learning Activities in Minecraft for Formal Education in Geography
When the player rst enters the game, he/she is located inside a map room (hub)
which has a climate zone map displayed on a wall (Figure 3). Below the map is an
interactive panel that works also as the map’s legend. Each block texture is identical
to those on the wall map. The hub also contains an NPC (teacher) who explains the
task and invites the player to explore the climate zones by pressing the buttons on top
of each block in the legend. The NPC is interactive; the rst interaction therefore is to
start a dialogue with the teacher and obtain information on how to start the task. The
teacher presents the task as eldwork/exploration of the Earth’s climate zones. The
task is based on a fetch quest system, where the player must visit all climate zones and
collect plant samples from three of the ve different environments.
In each climate zone, the player encounters NPCs who ask questions about environ-
mental features in the surroundings. These multiple-choice questions can be responded
to as often as the player wants until they give the correct answer. Feedback as sound
lets players know when their answers are incorrect (sound of an explosion) or correct
(sound of a bell).
Along the way from one NPC to another, the player will encounter wooden signs
with basic information about the visited climate zone. The signs display short sentences
with descriptions of fauna, ora, and physical aspects of the terrain (Figure 4). These
signs are located in places near pathways and in spots visible from a distance. In cli-
mate zones with a tree cover the signs are closer together, whereas in open view they
are scattered.
Fig. 2. Climate zones where the player is teleported to after interacting with the legend panel.
Climate zone C has two representations (C I: savannah, C II: deciduous forest)
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Paper—Designing Learning Activities in Minecraft for Formal Education in Geography
Fig. 3. Interactive panel with sample textures for the Earth’s
climate zones (version from pilot study II)
Fig. 4. Examples of information about climate zones in signs
positioned alone the exploration route (pilot study II)
3.3 Playtesting sessions
Prototype testing was based on the interactive game design model proposed by
Fullerton [30]. In this model, the prototype is developed and tested in four stages:
concept, pre-production, production, and questions/answers. In this approach, the
early-stage prototype is tested by its developers to validate the implementation of
the conceptual game. After validation of the conceptual game, the prototype is tested as
often as required to validate design choices, x bugs, and assess the user experience. In
the case of our study, two prototypes were tested by participants.
The logic behind prototype development was to use the assessment of the previous
version to produce a new, improved version. The rst prototype was created according
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Paper—Designing Learning Activities in Minecraft for Formal Education in Geography
to the premises presented previously in addition to testing conducted by the authors and
colleagues. The second prototype was updated according to the results from the rst
playtesting session (described in the following sections).
The rst prototype applied the recommendations in the notes from conceptual game
testing. The second prototype was updated/xed using the data collected during the
rst playtesting session. The second playtesting session assessed the entire course of
the game and its mechanics. The data collected from both playtest sessions were then
assembled to support the discussion in this paper. Playtesting was performed in June
2022 and consisted of two pilot studies.
Both game versions were developed in English, with dialogues and quests translated
into Czech only for the rst playtesting session. The game was designed for ofine
play, but it is also available on an online server.
Playtesting session I. The session presented the scenario to high school level stu-
dents. The aim of the study was to test the mechanics of exploring the environment
to accomplish the quest and answer questions. In this prototype version, players were
required to visit the climate zones and talk to an NPC, who asked a question about the
local fauna. Animals were added to the environment to provide visual and audio clues
for the player. To insert animals, we used WizardAnimals,5 a modication created by
gustavowizard123.
The game starts in the map room, where the players nd a lectern with a guidebook
containing the main rules of the game plus. The room also contains a chest with goods,
maps on the wall, and an NPC (teacher) who send the player on a quest for plant sam-
ples. Players decide how to start the game by interacting with any of the features found
in the map room.
Setting and procedure. A laptop with a 13″ screen was prepared for the players. They
played in pairs, with no predened rules, and could set how to share their game expe-
rience. A brief explanation of the exercise translated from English to Czech was given
to all participants at once. The time to nish the game was measured, and notes were
taken while players tested the game. When it was necessary, the researcher also issued
instructions or information about controls or game mechanics. General observations
and notes about user interaction with the features and responses to sound feedback
were recorded during playtesting. After nishing, the players were invited to comment
or make suggestions about the scenario, written in Czech if they wanted to share some
thoughts.
Participants. High school students from a technical college in Brno, Czech
Republic, were invited to participate in playtesting. Eight participants tested the
game, consisting of ve boys and three girls, aged 15 to 16 years. None of the par-
ticipants wanted to speak in English, but they were all able to understand and read
the language.
Playtesting session II. In this prototype, the question task was improved by adding a
structure to the experience. Each climate zone presents the player with three NPCs who
ask a specic question related to one of three topics: the physical environment, fauna
or ora (Table 1). After correctly answering the questions, the player is able to unlock
the plant sample quest with the NPC in the map room. The main objective of this
5 https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/wizards-animals
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Paper—Designing Learning Activities in Minecraft for Formal Education in Geography
playtesting session was to verify whether the structured task system based on questions
would engage players in the topic of climate zones.
Some features were implemented to improve the representation of each climate zone.
For example, when the player is teleported to the tropical wet climate, it triggers a com-
mand to start raining. Based on the previous playtest, we noticed that players should
have cues to lead them through the environment to reach the newly added NPCs. Path-
way blocks were placed to create a visual reference for players to identify where they
should head to accomplish the task.
Table 1. Structure of the questions
Climate Zone N° Question Pattern
X
1Question about ora
2 Question about physical aspects of the climate zone
3Question about fauna
Setting and procedure. The game was prepared for two players to play at the same
time on a laptop, using a single avatar in the game. The game was displayed on a
second 21″ monitor placed above the laptop screen. A map of the keyboard with the
functions was displayed on the laptop screen throughout the gameplay.
Before starting, an explanation of the purpose of the study and what kind of task
players would perform was given to the participants. Gameplay was recorded using
screen capture from the Xbox Gaming app, with microphone recording. General obser-
vations and notes about user interaction with the features and modications used, spe-
cically CustomNPCs and WizardAnimals, were recorded during playtesting.
After nishing, the players were invited to answer a questionnaire in Google Forms.
The questionnaire contained questions about their experience with Minecraft and also
invited the participants to leave comments or make suggestions.
Participants. University students from Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic,
were invited to test the game. Playtesting was conducted over a day with eight partici-
pants aged 20 to 25, four men and four women. All of the participants were Information
and Library Science students and were able to read and speak in English.
4 Results
4.1 First survey
The survey was performed with a group of university students from three different
cities (Brno, Olomouc, and Soa). For the rst set of questions, 36 respondents provide
information about their previous experience with Minecraft. Almost 70% of the partic-
ipants had played Minecraft previously, and 58% of them had watched Minecraft con-
tent on YouTube. The average age when they started playing Minecraft was 13 years
old. When asked about the platform to play the game, 92% responded that they used
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Paper—Designing Learning Activities in Minecraft for Formal Education in Geography
the PC version and 8% used a mobile device. The majority of the participants played
Minecraft for less than one year, 20% one to two years, and 12% played the game for
more than 7 years.
The second questionnaire was answered by 28 participants from Brno and Olomouc.
As mentioned in the methodology section, the questions concerned block textures and
their respective Minecraft versions. In response to the question about the granite block
(version 1.8), 35.7% of answers were correct. Similarly, the responses to questions
concerning the basalt block (version 1.16), were correct in 32.1% of answers, and for
the copper block (version 1.18) 42% of answers were “I don’t know”. For the classic
and older block textures in the game, the results were different, and most of the par-
ticipants responded correctly. For the question about the sand block texture, which
was introduced to the game in 2009, 92.1% of answers were correct. Similar results
were obtained from the question about the snow block, also from 2009, with 89.3% of
answers correct.
4.2 Playtesting session I
On average, participants took 11 minutes to nish the game, and participants inter-
acted with each other throughout the task. Three pairs of participants decided to share
the game’s controls, where one participant controlled the mouse (head/sight movement,
break/place blocks) while the other controlled the keyboard (walking/running, jump-
ing). At some points, participants stopped to discuss which direction to follow or
discussed the answers to questions from NPCs.
The rst pair of participants ignored the NPC in the map room and travelled immedi-
ately to the climate zones. It took them a while to realize that the NPC was interactive.
The players struck at some animals while exploring. They also investigated details in
the map room, such as the source map for the creation of the climate zones. Participants
checked the quest log window several times to conrm how to nish the plant sample
quest. They answered all the questions correctly at the rst attempt.
The second pair of participants were confused with the controls and attempted to
interact with the NPC while holding the guidebook with the avatar. While interacting
with the NPCs, the players received hints from the researcher to help them gure out
the mechanics. After some time, the players managed to nish the task, answering all
questions correctly at the rst attempt. These two players explored the environment
much more than other participants.
The third pair of participants started by reading the guidebook before interacting
with anything else in the map room. The sound effects for NPCs and animals was a
feature that caught their attention. They struck at some animals while exploring the
climate zones. At the start, the players did not follow the main task and explored the
environment instead. When the players attempted the sample collection quest, they had
to read the Minecraft wall map to discover where to nd Acacia leaves. Looking at the
map, they decided to teleport to climate zone C (mildly warm), which was the correct
zone. They answered one question incorrectly.
The fourth pair of participants were the quickest to complete the test, nishing the
game in just six minutes. The pair were a boy and a girl playing together, but the boy
immediately took control of the game from the beginning while the girl mainly watched
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him play, commenting and suggesting actions to take. They struck at all the animals
they found on their way and paid more attention to the signs and blocks on the oor
to identify the climate zones and decide which one they should visit. They did not pay
much attention to the maps displayed on walls. Neither of the participants was willing
to comment on the gameplay, but both mentioned that it was fun.
4.3 Playtesting session II
Eight participants tested the game in the second playtesting session. Seven of them
had already had some experience with the PC version of Minecraft (Java/Bedrock),
whereas one had never previously played the game. Among those with previous experi-
ence, the average age when they started playing was around 10 years, and the majority
played on online servers. The average age of the participants at the time of this test was
22 years. All the participants shared the same background in information and library
studies. On average, the participants had played Minecraft for at least 3.5 years.
The results from the gameplay assessment showed that all players accomplished
the given tasks in the game (Table 2). An examination of the gameplay videos veried
that the pathways introduced only in the second prototype were effective in leading the
players to the NPCs. As in the rst prototype, the participants interacted with animals in
every visited climate zone. A aw in the NPCs system confused one pair of participants,
who consequently struggled to understand the dynamics of travelling to the next NPC
after answering the rst question. This problem occurred because the Custom NPCs
mod randomly displayed the interaction lines, causing the misunderstanding.
Table 2. Gameplay assessment
Assessment Topics* Participants
1/2 3/4 5/6 7/8
Percentage of incorrect answers 13.3% 20% 26.6% 6.66%
Percentage of signs read 32% 48% 24% 24%
Consulted the climate zone map Yes No Yes No
Interacted with animals (striking/petting) Yes Yes Ye s Yes
Collected plant samples from the correct climate zone** Ye s Yes Yes No
Explored the environment*** Yes No No Yes
Notes: *Information retrieved from the recorded gameplays, **At the rst attempt, ***More than intended
by the game.
All participants started paying more attention to the signs after visiting the rst cli-
mate zones. Signs that were placed near the paths were more often spotted than signs
placed away from the main route. In climate zones B and E, which lack vegetation,
participants spotted the signs more frequently. In assessing knowledge retention from
the experience, all participants answered correctly for the number of visited climate
zones, which hemisphere the mildly cold zone was located, and whether the climate
zone affected the fauna and ora. Participants who explored more the environment had
higher percentage of correct answers.
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All the NPC questions were answered by the participants. Questions 5, 8 and 11
were answered incorrectly more often than others, with only two pairs of participants
answering them correctly at the rst attempt. Participants answered questions 2, 13, 14
and 15 incorrectly once, and the remainder were answered correctly at the rst attempt.
The responses from the questionnaire given to the participants after playtesting also
provided interesting results about the player experience. In response to what the player
liked most, some players remarked that being in and exploring an open world was a
major highlight from the experience. Interaction with entities (animals) also revealed
itself as one of the most engaging features of the game. These observations were derived
from the questionnaire responses below:
“Reading signs, tasks, just running around”, “Running around landscape and
interacting with ora and fauna”, “Collecting samples”, “walking”, “Cooperat-
ing with my teammate, exploring”, “Animals”, “The animals”.
In response to what participants missed in the game most, participants indicated that
they would like to see more interactivity and higher levels of difculty in the questions.
Participants also mentioned that the quest system could be developed further to include
more options for players to choose from and greater diversity in the tasks:
“Maybe more interactivity, harder questions”, “It can be longer and have
more quests”, “More quests in the form of collecting”, “nothing comes to my
mind at the moment”, “Diversity in characters, questions and quests”, “More
interaction with the animals”.
The nal question asked participants about the drawbacks of the Minecraft Climate
Zones game. In this part, participants expressed that the game recalled experiences of
reading textbooks, mainly because of the dialogues, texts, questions, and repetitive
tasks. One participant mentioned that the game might be uninteresting to older people.
In relation to the elements designed for the environment, one participant commented
about distractions and that pathways were sometimes not visible.
5 Final considerations
Minecraft is already known as a powerful tool for education, being used in many
formal and informal educational settings. Its popularity plays a key role in engaging
students in an educational activity; however, it is not enough to create an attractive
setting for students. It is therefore pertinent to think about designing Minecraft game
experiences which support learning processes. In the present study, we set out to under-
stand the role of the game’s virtual environment in creating a context for learning about
topics related to geography. Overall, the study presented the usefulness of Minecraft
aesthetics in creating lessons for geography curriculum.
Minecraft is an Earth simulator, with animals, oceans, mountains, trees, weather and
a day/night cycle. All these elements recall real-world features which are recognizable
to players. Exploration is one of the main aspects of the Minecraft gameplay, as dis-
cussed by de Sena [27]. In the present studies, we engaged players with an exploratory
activity in Minecraft by providing climate zone content to interpret the environmental
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simulation. However, as suggested by Short [28], an excess of realism and detail may
distract players from the main objective. Considering this observation, we introduced
visual features in the environment in pilot study I and II to support players with explo-
ration and accomplishing the task.
The design-based research using Minecraft is a useful combination for developing
educational activities. The results from our research will support the next stages for
developing the use of Minecraft in geography teaching. Whereas the prototypes were
not played in a formal class context, we aim to improve the scenario and set up an actual
class exercise. Using the game in a real-world scenario can provide an environment for
assessing different aspects of the gameplay.
The survey demonstrated that different afnity spaces exist in just one digital game.
In the case of Minecraft, which has been available for more than a decade, the commu-
nity of players has changed signicantly since the rst game release in 2009. Former
Minecraft players in the participant groups spoke about the game during playtesting
with a feeling of nostalgia. We consider that the more than one decade of Minecraft
play has shaped the way digital natives intuitively communicate and interact with the
game’s specic structure and virtual environment aesthetic. Nevertheless, additional
studies are needed to validate this hypothesis.
It is important to remark that the survey and playtesting were performed by three
different groups of people with varied backgrounds. Their input was relevant to under-
standing how the proposed game motivates the player. However, the game still needs
to be tested by the target audience, which is K-12 students. In that case, the game will
be improved to its nal version before testing by children. This corroborates the notion
that designing for a target audience requires playtesting with that specic group, other-
wise the nal design may not have the desired learning effectiveness [22].
One aspect of designing educational content in Minecraft is the required skills for
a teacher to implement the scenario. A Minecraft world can be designed by an instruc-
tor be used for more than one topic. The game can encompass a series of lessons as a
combination of different areas [28]. The present study explored the possibility of using
the advantage of the game’s aesthetics to address a topic from the K-12 curriculum.
However, using the principles of experimental game-design research, similar lessons
with the same tools and design could be created. In this aspect, the possibility to mod-
ify Minecraft’s virtual environment and mechanics allow “even less computationally
skilled researchers to expand their research focuses on educational video games” [31].
There are many ways to assess the outcomes of an educational activity in Minecraft.
Recording gameplay was effective in registering all the actions taken by players in the
game. Reviewing gameplay demands a signicant investment of time, which is not
appealing in a formal learning setting. However, it is very effective in improving the
design, giving the designer the means to easily track aws in a designed activity. From
the assessment strategies employed in the studies, it was not clear whether the partici-
pants retained any content after nishing the game. Considering the use of the proposed
game in a classroom context, the introductory and evaluation stages administered by
a teacher can encourage thinking in students, as discussed by Steinbeiß [20]. Future
studies can focus on assessing information retention and knowledge recall.
The presented game was designed for ofine play, but since Minecraft allows
online play via servers, the game could be adapted to an online multiplayer mechanic.
It would be able to encourage the development of communication, cooperation, and
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problem-solving, all highly relevant skills in the twenty-rst century. Still, online
interaction via the game does not necessarily generate social learning and raises the
risk of unwanted behaviour. In that regard, a moderator would be necessary to encour-
age interaction between players [31]. The setting supports discussion between play-
ers and the development of reasoning skills [14]. Despite that the proposed game was
designed to be single player, allowing the participants to play together on the same
computer and control a single avatar proved an effective method of encouraging com-
munication and knowledge transfer.
We conclude by stating that we believe Minecraft should not replace in-person
classes or well-established traditional teaching methods. Our intention was to explore
and gain a better understanding of Minecraft’s inuence on a generation and the effect
in learning processes, specically in geography curriculum. The game already plays a
role in educating players and supporting the development of many skills highly relevant
in the twenty-rst century, for example spatial thinking [14], creativity [32], citizenship
[33], and STEM [28]. We also consider the use of Minecraft for educational purposes
must come with responsibility, considering that the intense use of digital media, such as
digital games, raises concerns regarding addiction [34]. Lastly, other game engines also
inuence the development of technology skills and digital literacy among students, like
the digital game Roblox [35].
6 Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Operational Programme Research, Development
and Education Project “Postdoc2MUNI” (No. CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/18_053/0016952).
We thank the Safe Software Grant Programme for making the FME software available
for the development of the game.
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8 Authors
Ítalo Sousa de Sena is a former postdoctoral researcher in virtual geographic
environments at the Department of Geography, Masaryk University in Brno, Czech
Republic. He is an external collaborator at Geogames Lab, Iowa State University,
U.S.A. and at GeoproEA Lab, Architecture School of Minas Gerais Federal Univer-
sity, Brazil. His current research topics are geogames, geodesign and virtual immersive
environments.
Zdeněk Stachoň is the assistant professor at the Department of Geography, Masaryk
University, Czech Republic. His research focuses on spatiotemporal analysis, principles
of map design, cognitive aspects in cartographic visualization, and geographic support
in decision making. He is a member of the societies for Czech Cartography and Czech
Geography, the vice-chair of the UX Commission for the International Cartographic
Association, and a member of the editorial board of the M.A.P.S. edition.
Article submitted 2022-10-21. Resubmitted 2022-11-28. Final acceptance 2022-11-29. Final version
published as submitted by the authors.
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