Building skills and knowledge in new

Building skills and knowledge in new esports contest

Ready, set … students became digital athletes to be quick off the blocks in a new, speed building competition. Last month, teams from Christchurch schools battled it out in an esports challenge to construct in Minecraft a waka hourua, the traditional double-hulled canoe of Polynesian explorers.

They’d done their research, planned designs and limbered up their fingers. All that was left was for Sir Ian Taylor to inspire and encourage a -konga before they launched into a new esports competition combining Minecraft with resources from his Ma -tauranga Land of Voyagers learning platform. In the country’s first ever Esports Minecraft Build Challenge, teams of Year 7 and 8 students from 12 Christchurch schools had precisely 20 minutes to get their blocks on the move and collaboratively build a waka inside the digital environment of Minecraft Education Edition.

“The original idea came from a resource that was developed by Digital Storytelling Aotearoa with Te Waka Unua School,” explained Arnika Macphail of impactED, education specialists and MoE accredited PLD provider. “ImpactED’s Wilj Dekkers worked with Robbie Rate and Danny McNeil from Christchurch City Libraries to develop a series of Minecraft Education Edition lessons built around the Ma -tauranga content designed as a series of speed build lessons. We then worked with the local Canterbury Ministry of Education to further develop the programme and explore esports using these resources.”

JUDGES SPEAKING TO PARTICIPANTS

Plan and build

Organised collaboratively by Te Papatipu Matihiko, impactED and Christchurch City Libraries, the competition took place last month at Te Ha -pua Halswell Centre. “Sir Ian Taylor introduced the day with the Birds and Navigation video and spoke briefly about his ancestors’ migration to Aotearoa – the greatest migration story in history. Students were then tasked to work in teams of four to build the Waka Hourua. They knew this in advance, and several teams brought their planning with them to refer to before they hit the stage.” Two teams competed on the stage at a time, starting with a 10-minute build, then a break to strategise, before another 10-minute build, making 20 minutes in total. More than 500 students, teachers and parents watched the event, in the audience or via livestream.

Having a blast

“Competitions like this provide a great opportunity for students to represent their schools,” said Danny McNeil, Christchurch Libraries Special Projects Learning Specialist. “It was a very successful event. The feedback was excellent. All the teams and spectators had a blast. We’re now sitting down with our partners to plan the next ones.”

Breens Intermediate School took the top prize on the day, with awards also going to:

• Collaboration: St Mark’s School,

Christchurch

• Creativity: Hillmorton High School • Leadership: Te Kura Kaupapa Ma -ori o

Te Wha -nau Tahi

• Sportsmanship: Te Waka Unua School

Super motivated

The team from Te Kura o Tuahiwi returned to school “absolutely inspired to continue improving their skills”, says Tumuaki Melanie Taite-Pitama.

“This was our first Minecraft competition but certainly won’t be our last as both our a -konga and wha nau were super motivated and stimulated about the environment. We have a dedicated staff member who has a passion for Minecraft and seeing a -konga achieve in different areas of the curriculum, especially those with high engagement from many of our Ma -ori boys. We love that Minecraft is an option for our tamariki who love digital technology. Since the competition we have initiated an inter Ka -hui Ako competition this term

and are looking forward to hosting this and bringing Minecraft alive at Tuahiwi!”

Loved every minute

St Mark’s School’s Sarah Learman added: “It was an epic day full of action, gaming, top tips, loud supporting, and very excited tamiriki. The students of St Mark’s loved every minute, knowing that it was something new and special. They demonstrated extraordinary creativity, cooperation, collaboration and communication skills, and genuine appreciation and support of others. As a teacher, it emphasised every benefit of Minecraft and why we should be using it in classrooms.

“There’s already been talk about next year, and a group of senior students are currently planning an esports competition for the younger years at our school.”

Unbelievable vibe

All contestants also got to take home a set of JBL gaming headphones, plus there were prizes on the day from Harvey Norman, impactED and Microsoft. “It was incredible to see what everyone built and how they worked together to do this,” added Arnika. “We got to see all the Key Competencies in action, and links right across the Curriculum. The vibe in the room was unbelievable the crowd was so supportive of all the teams. “The best part was seeing a -konga engage in esports in a way that was collaborative and celebrating their success.” Article by the INTERFACE Team Watch the action for yourself at

bit.ly/esportswakabuild

What it means to take part and to win!

Here the winning team from Breens Intermediate – Liam, Samuel, Rick, and Jess (pictured above) – tell us about their experience of the competition. “The competition was on 4 July. Our team was me, Samuel, Rick, and Jess. There were 12 different schools including us with four people in each team. Everyone was there to either participate in the building competition or watch. We got picked by joining the esports club and built the most detailed/best and worked well together.” Liam “Our challenge was to build a doublehulled waka, Waka Hourua, similar to the ones the Ma -ori came over to New Zealand on. In the first half, our team set out the two hulls and main platform. We began to create the water and texture it as well, although we didn’t complete all the water. There was a bit of confusion about which way the waka was facing, but once we figured it out, everything ran more smoothly. Jess added a bit more details, I made the deck look cooler, Rick worked on the mast, and Liam made the water look awesome. It was great to hear the other teams cheering for us!” Samuel

“After a break, we got back on and started working exceptionally well. We talked and discussed what we would do. Liam put up the sails, Samuel did the water, Jess did some finer details, and I tied up chickens to fence posts to create the illusions of ropes used to control the sails. Everything felt quite tense at first because we didn’t know if we would succeed, but when we finally finished, we were pretty happy with the results.” Rick

“Everyone was patiently waiting for the awards to be announced. All the judges came to the front ready to hand them out. One by one the suspense got to us all in the room. The judges described our build that we created. We all had a big smile on our faces, and we were called up to receive the mini trophies and the award. All the participating teams received a bag with a cool set of headphones. Thank you so much to the organisers, other competitors, sponsors and our teacher Mrs Taylor.”

Jess

WAKA UNDER CONSTRUCTION Minecraft Build Challenges

Check out this series of Minecraft Education Edition build challenges to complement the Ma -tauranga resources at dsta.co.nz/resources-kete

More about Ma -tauranga

Free to all schools, Ma -tauranga’s mission is to help young people learn from the past to navigate their future. It tells the story of the Polynesian migration across the Pacific through engaging videos and fun activities that inspire them to recognise the STEM intellect of these early, extraordinary voyagers who brought people to Aotearoa. For more information go to

maatauranga.co.nz