A teacher in Spain has found the best way to get students to pay attention during their classes in religion, with a little help from Minecraft.
Daniel Pajuelo Vazquez, a priest who also happens to be a teacher in Spain, has turned to Minecraft to get his students to listen during religion classes.
Vazquez has decided to come up with the idea after observing that many children spend hours upon hours of their time watching others play Minecraft on YouTube.
During an interview for World Heroes Education, Vazquez told The Daily Edventures that he has always been passionate about integrating technology with education:
“I have always been passionate about introducing technology in the classroom. Last year, I created a workshop on Arduino and Raspberry Pi for students that were failing in their studies, in order to help them raise their self-esteem and train them in new skills like programming, electronics, and circuit repair.”
Vazquez’s idea turned out to be a big success.
Today, the Minecraft community he started is now being administered by students. His idea has gained a lot of attention, even leading to an appearance in national television.
In the same Daily Edventures interview, Vazquez has added that his goal was to introduce Minecraft as a secondary tool in religious education:
“I thought it was cool and significant to connect tech and religion. My goal was to introduce Minecraft as a tool in Spain’s secondary school religious education. I created a website so other teachers can apply it in their classes, and created a social media plan to spread the word.”
Vazquez is not the first educator to turn to Minecraft for help. Instructional Coach for Bettendorf Middle School Iowa Aaron Mauer writes about his experience in using Minecraft as an educational tool in a guest post on the Microsoft in Education Blog.
Microsoft acquired Minecraft from Mojang nearly two years ago with education as one of the visions it had in mind.
Today, the game is not only being enjoyed by youngsters outside the classroom, but inside as well.
Source: The Daily Edventures via WinBeta
