The research question that underpinned this study is, what happens to the learning dynamic in the primary classroom when a commercial off the shelf game (such as Minecraft) is introduced to learning experiences without specific training given to their teachers? The study took place in primary 6 and primary 7 classrooms in schools in Dundee and aimed to explore what would happen were the game Minecraft brought into the classroom experience as the tool to help meet a design brief to redesign the city’s waterfront. It was noted that the cultural phenomenon of Minecraft, and its associated semiotic domains (Gee, 2003) and affinity spaces (Salen 1999) and becoming (Deleuze, 1994). Main findings included how the children were very keen to discuss how the folding and unfolding of their classroom experience of the Minecraft study allowed them the opportunity to be seen by their teachers as people whose capabilities and talents were beyond what they felt the school allowed them to be or framed them as. There was also evidence of how the study created a state of flux that led to the deterritorialization (Deleuze with enhanced learning cultures and a shift in the teacher/children dynamic being reported as a common outcome. The study challenges us to reflect on our possible lack of awareness and understanding of the wider digital cultures that children situate themselves in and if indeed, they have the potential to be accommodated in the experience of school and our pedagogy, so that we get it right for every child in terms of them becoming their best holistic self.
Derek Robertson (Sat,) studied this question.