Author: drisebor@hotmail.com

Twitter feed now setup

I’ve been doing a bit of a touch-up to the website and also set up a twitter feed! You might also notice that I managed to put the social media links at the top-right of the website page. (This caused me much more trouble than it should have.)

Education via Minecraft

First of all, I have to admit, Programming in Minecraft is a hobby of mine and I’ve been ‘into’ various aspects of Minecraft for probably about 4 years now, so I’m probably a bit biased when it comes to this topic.

But I really do think Minecraft has a lot to offer to kids who find it a nice change from the carefully produced and heavily scripted games from the big studios. Here are some ways kids can learn from Minecraft:

1. Working with numbers.

The items required to make a bookshelf are made from resources which must be gathered. How many of each resource are needed?

The game works by gathering resources which can then be used to make items and then sometimes those items can be crafted into other items. The calculations to work out how much of each resource will be needed to craft, for example, a bookshelf can get pretty complex.

Also Minecraft can be used as a way of factoring integers! If you have a certain number of blocks and you figure out a way of placing them to make a solid rectangular prism, you have just found three factors of the number of blocks! (hint-it’s the length of the sides)

(I’m working on a custom map where factoring numbers is built into the game. It’s still a long way from being completed, but hopefully one day…)

2. Creativity and role-play.

Minecraft builds are often attractive models built to resemble real world places.

Solo gameplay in Minecraft gets boring quickly unless you play with a bit of imagination and use some creativity.  If you are a parent, it’s a good idea to check what your child is up to in Minecraft. Are they creating? Are they persisting with developing a single world? The problem with a Mojang account is that they can end up spending there whole time on server mini-games and not appreciating the game as it was meant to be played.

A big part of Minecraft now is custom maps. Players can easily make their own maps. These are custom made worlds which usually have some kind of end goal. Minecraft provides a wide range of extra features for map makers, so maps can be made as simple or advanced as the designer wishes. Creating custom maps is one of the most creative activities I can think of, encompassing programming, storyline development, voice acting, computer art, and any number of media skills.

3. Programming

Command blocks used to be the only way of programming in Minecraft. Now Mojang has introduced functions, programming will be much easier.

Mojang are offering a web based graphical programming tutorial via code.org, but I don’t think it has a lot to offer kidsonce they reach senior primary school.

However Minecraft, as of version 1.12 in the Java version, now comes with a rudimentary programming language via something called functions. Also command blocks, which execute a single command at a time, have been around since version 1.4 and have gradually been improved and made increasingly more capable.

It is actually quite a lot harder to program in Minecraft than using a standard programming language, because many capabilities of structured programming are missing in Minecraft. Capabilities such as looping, branching and even passing parameters must be created by various tricks, often using in-game entities. On the other hand, Minecraft programs can execute many command simultaneously and be programmed with timing at the level of single clock ticks at 20 times per second. It reminds me somewhat of the FPGA programming I used to do when I was in the aerospace industry.

4. Engineering and Science

Many redstone contraptions are equivalent to simple digital electronic circuits.

This needs to be put in context. Minecraft presents the player with a virtual world with consistent rules that are only superficially similar to the real world. The player can use those rules to create an unlimited number of contraptions and inventions. However the rules are not always well documented and can vary between versions. Players often create experiments to check exactly how the rules work. Hence science!

It should be noted that Minecraft makes a poor substitute for the real world in many ways. The rules of Minecraft are too simplistic to present many of the real world challenges of our complex analog universe such as making precise measurements or dealing with subtle interactions between physical laws. Nevertheless, the ease of which a player can slip into science mode without even realise it in a Minecraft world makes it a valuable educational resource.

I’m fairly biased when it comes to Minecraft, but, with a bit of parental encouragement and supervision, I don’t think it needs to be a complete time-waster. We just need to make sure kids get plenty of real-world play as well.

Newsletter #2

Mid Year Study!

It’s about time I put out another newsletter!

I hope everyone’s studies are going really well!

Now is the time when many students are preparing for mid year tests and exams if they haven’t already started! Tutoring makes me remember my student days and how hard it was to study effectively and come up with good study approaches that work. Back then we didn’t even have Google to help us find tips on study technique. Here are a few links I found today:

http://www.youthcentral.vic.gov.au/studying-training/studying-tips-resources/top-10-study-tips

http://www.csc.edu/learningcenter/study/studymethods.csc

https://www.goconqr.com/en/examtime/blog/study-hacks/

https://www.seeklearning.com.au/study-and-career-advice/about-study/study-tips/study-techniques-that-work

I would add to these articles that it is important to know what you need to study! It may sound obvious but it can be hard to be sure which topics are going to be assessed. This can be because previous years had similar material and it isn’t clear how this year adds to what you learned last year. Perhaps something was covered in a way that didn’t make it obvious it is part of the subject material. Maybe you were sick and missed something in class.
My suggestion is that if your teacher hasn’t given it to you, make a list of topics you have been taught so far. It will be even better if you can link it to some kind of study material you have like notes, handouts, or even assignments.
And finally, and maybe this won’t be popular advice for some kids, aim to get an A! Why? Because and A grade means you have learned and understand all the topics and concepts you are supposed to have been taught. Even if you don’t usually get anywhere near an A, I think it’s important to study all the material and aim to learn basically all of it. You might be surprised how that knowledge could come in handy later on.
Of course not all kids learn and study the same way and at the same rate, but the more you learn and the more of those gaps you fill in, the better off you will be in the long run. That’s where a bit of help from a parent or tutor like me can help you improve your knowledge, understanding and confidence.
So, all the best in your studies, and feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.

Group Classes

I would like to start some group classes in mathematics at a reduced price. The classes will be held either at a community centre, in a library, or at someone’s home.

The location will need to be somewhere in western Melbourne, within 20 minutes drive of Tarneit. (If I end up having classes at my place, I apologise in advance that my house is not presented particularly well. I am renting until my new home in Truganina is built.)

The price per student will have to depend on the number of students, but I would like to hold it at around $20 per 1 hour session.

Unless the class is in a public place I will need one more adult to attend. The first parent to volunteer will be given one free spot in the class for their child!

If you are interested, feel free to let me know. Also feel free to organise something with your friends and come back to me with an offer.

 

 

 

 

 

Ability Learning, Newsletter 1

Here is the email newsletter I sent out on the 23rd March.

Welcome to this first newsletter for Ability Learning 🙂

I hope you are having a great week and, if you are studying or have a child who is studying, those studies are going great!

I plan to send these newsletters out regularly, perhaps once a month. Feel free to forward them to your friends.

I’m pleased to let you know that I have obtained accreditation with Accredited Tutor which is endorsed by the Australian Tutors Association (ata.edu.au). Obtaining the accreditation involved several hours of online training and assessment as well as background checks. I believe that this is a necessary first step in my commitment to continuously raising my quality standards.

Please be patient while I continue to work on my website. Right now it just consists of a banner and a blog with one entry. I’m currently learning about WordPress, which is the software that my website runs on to present it’s content. Once I’ve mastered this software I will be able to make some major improvements.

I have big plans for the website. I want it to host a community of students and parents and share my teaching resources with you all as well as any fun activities and content that I create. This will take time however and initially I just want to improve the formatting and start adding blog entries.

That’s all for now. I look forward to continuing to help all my students to reach their potential and surprise themselves with their own ability.