Please install Minecraft using the directions on the link below.

Some parents are concerned about online safety with collaborative games like Minecraft and that is understandable. However, be assured that when students use the education edition of Minecraft only students from our school can ‘join’ their world and only if they give them a special ‘join code’. They also have to be on the same network unless you setup port forwarding on your router. There are no anonymous users. The collaborative nature of Minecraft is actually one of its greatest strengths. With trusted friends or classmates it opens up fantastic learning opportunities that cannot be achieved be students individually.

Many of the grade 2 students are already familiar with Minecraft. We used it in class during term 1 at least once. For this lesson, I think it’s enough if you can get it installed and then allow them some time to explore their own virtual world.

Once you have installed and logged in you may want to follow the following tips.

If you’d rather just dive in and do the tutorials later or if your student is very keen to show you how you can create a brand new world that isn’t from a template.

There are 2 main game modes in Minecraft. Survival mode (default) requires that you mine and acquire resources the proper way. You can also hurt yourself if you fall and you can’t fly. I recommend switching to Creative mode to start with and setting the difficulty to ‘Peaceful’. This enables you to access all the blocks you could ever want, the ability to fly and basically be invincible.

I also recommend the settings above – most are self-explanatory. Destructive items includes TNT and lava. Turning off ‘player damage’ ensures you don’t have a fatality to explain to your student when they fall from a high place.

Email me at gong@standrews.vic.edu.au if you have any questions.