the refugee crisis
As part of our #ImmersiveHumanties lesson resource series, we use Minecraft to create courses and resources for #TeachingTheToughStuff'! Designed to help teachers embrace subjects that are not readily tackled as part of the explicit curriculum but have an impact on student lives both in and out of school.
We have developed a Minecraft world to help students explore and understand what is being referred to as 'The Refugee Crisis'.
The game addresses attitudes and beliefs that make these issues seem irrelevant or abstract to the learner:
'It's them not us'
'It's happening over there'
'Over there is different from here'
'They don't have to come here'
'They take our jobs'
The lessons have explicit links to The Convention of Human Rights, and The Rights of the Child, as well as tie ins to exploring the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The final product combines a #Minecraft map that invites learners to experience life as a refugee fleeing from war with a #OneNote teacher guide embedded with tools such as #Flipgrid and #Forms to help with reflective feedback and provide opportunities for Student Voice to be heard.
The underlying theme for this map is 'In their Shoes', and focuses on decision-making under pressure, and the emotive, complex choices that people fleeing from war-torn homes, have to make. This creates rich opportunities for working with students to develop Social and Emotional Learning skills #SEL and we have updated this resource to include an #SEL framework to aid tracking as you move through the lessons.
Used in Sweden, Wales, France and the US already, this resource is proving to be a huge success for both students welcoming refugees in their communities, and those who hear about it through the media. The development of empathy is one of the core successes, as well as it's ability to provide immersive, emotive experiences that learners otherwise find difficult to relate to.