For my very first virtual world lesson, I used Minecraft to simulate a mountain man and beaver trapping experience. Mountain men and beaver trapping were huge parts of Wyoming history, as it was during this time period that so many explorers traveled into Wyoming.
For the lesson, I created a short introductory video briefly explaining mountain men and beaver trapping.
Video on Mountain Men & Beaver Trapping
After viewing the video, students would enter into a Minecraft world that has been previously created that includes a fort area that is meant for a rendezvous.
Video on Mountain Men & Beaver Trapping Minecraft World.
The students’ first job is to go find “beaver” and trap them. Since Minecraft doesn’t have beavers, the students will be instructed that they can kill any animal (cow, sheep, etc.) available at this time. After collecting some “pelts,” they should head back to the rendezvous sight and begin trading for other goods that they might need.
There are a LOT of changes and advancements I would like to make to this Minecraft world in the future. First of all, this is definitely something that I would use with my fourth graders, so it’s something I want to continue to improve. Here are some of the changes that I want to make sooner rather then later:
- I would like to actually make some beavers in Minecraft and place them in this world.
- I would like to have an actual mountain with rivers close to the rendezvous site.
- I would like to place other mountain men and some Native American Indians in the rendezvous site that the students can interact with and actually trade with.
- I would like to have it set up so the students cannot take any of the other goods until they have given some beaver pelts.
I love the idea of having students help me expand this world. I can explain to them that this is basically a rough draft, that I welcome any and all ideas on how to improve it, and then I would enlist their help to actually make these improvements.
Meagan Dye: EDTECH Learning Log 