Minecraft: Education Edition Lesson Plan
Title: Redstone Machines 101 to understand how people access water
Introduction/Background: A simple machine in this lesson plan can demonstrate a series of dams protecting a waterway with switches. Students can demonstrate how a system like Arizona’s water storage plan can be prototyped in Minecraft.
World Required
· New Creative World
Age Group(s)
· 11-16
Subject Area(s)
Social Studies, Math
Skill(s) Developed
Computational thinking
Design thinking
Engineering solutions
Learning Objective(s)
Students will examine how water infrastructures distribute water
Students will explore solutions for water storage and measure water usage
Lesson Description
· Mini-Lesson (whole class): How do people get water locally?
In the United States’ Pacific Northwest region, people are delivered water through a complex infrastructure. People there know that when they turn on the water faucet, water comes out. This water system is managed by companies who charge for this water.
Does everyone around the world have the luxury of running water right to their home?
Are people guaranteed a water solution where they live?
What happens when a community is watching their water literally drying up?
Arizona, USA has a progressive plan for saving water and then redistributing that water for farming and necessities.
http://www.azwaterbank.gov/Water_Storage/Recharge_and_Facilities.htm#Facilities
The Arizona Water Bank stores water at two types of facilities: Underground Storage Facility (USFs) and Groundwater Savings Facility (GSFs). They determined this was the best solution for their state and had to plan ahead to pay for this system which “banks” water. Now there are two systems in place which allocate water and save it to be used later, underground and groundwater savings reservoirs.
This master planned water program has adjusted their water savings even with a 470% population growth: http://www.amwua.org/pdfs/arizona_water_use_infographic.pdf.
Glance over the infographic at the link provided above to answer the questions:
1. What is the first year included in this infographic? (a-1957) and what was the Gross Domestic Product for AZ for that year? (a-11.99 billion)
2. What is the last year included? (2010) and what is that year’s GDP? (195.14).
3. What is MAF in this chart? Millions of Acre feet. (a-In this chart in 1957, 7.1 was the number in MAF while in 2010 it is 7.6. Thus, while the population has increased dramatically the amount of water used has been managed well.)
4. What does one-acre foot of water provide? (a-2 households receive water)
We see how planning ahead and designing ecologically can replenish a water supply and sustain high population growth.
Businesses like Intel can produce semi-conductors in the Arizona desert by using reclaimed water http://www.forbes.com/sites/arizonacommerce/2015/02/10/tech-companies-are-thriving-in-arizona-the-lowdown-on-arizonas-high-tech-expansion/#3c55cfdf5e02.
Let’s look at how we can demonstrate using a machine to disperse water, simulating the water storage systems in place in Arizona.
Minecraft directions:
Start with building your own water reservoir by digging a place to store the water.
Add in a dispenser machine placed so that the “mouth” is pointing into the new reservoir you created. Provide red dust and a lever to be able to turn off and on the water. Right click on the dispenser and add the water bucket.
Test out your system by right clicking on the lever. Do you have flowing water in the reservoir?
In this camera image from Minecraft, there is a dispenser on the left and a dropper on the right. Both have Redstone and a lever to operate the machines. In the second image, the dispenser on the left has filled with water and the dropper on the right has a small bucket of water in the bottom of the reservoir.
Cooperative group activity choices for math applications:
First, you could create a system to determine how much water you are using by using a timer or clock to decide how long to have the dispenser machine lever on. How long do you have it flowing? You can collectively determine how much that water would cost by how long it takes to fill up your reservoir. Use volume formulas to determine how much water you need to fill up your reservoir. In Minecraft a block is equal to a meter.
Many people are charged for water usage by how much they use according to a counter on the water meter placed at their house.
In other systems like planned developments people are charged an average fee for the whole community. Still other communities like apartments might include that water charge in the rent. You can find out how much the local water system charges by doing some research on local water management solutions.
Second, instead of using a dispenser, you could use a dropper. It is another machine, but instead of using the dispenser to fill up a reservoir, a dropper will output a bucket of water. Think of some marketing plans you can have for using that water. Does a player have to come and purchase a bucket of water? How much will it cost? You may have seen communities that have no infrastructure in place and people have to travel to get that water and fill up their own cisterns and travel back home with a filled cistern. This dropper model would simulate what it is like not to have an infrastructure in place.
Cooperative group activity choices:
Teams could design a master community in Minecraft and power dispensers with water using Redstone and create a series of dams around the community. Instead of levers, planners could have sensor plates to stand on to turn on the water.
Teams could devise a plan to disperse water in communities without a developed water system. Is there a way to repurpose materials to disperse water more efficiently than going to the dropper to collect water and then walk it back to living areas? What could you design as a simple, efficient solution for communities without money to spend on an infrastructure to pipe the water to each home?
Evidence of Learning:
Assess volume on Minecraft built reservoirs or extend the learning into existing reservoirs in the community.
Design a community using a system like Arizona’s water bank solution.
Extension
Students could be tasked with finding out about local water solutions and do research on city governments and how the water is being managed.
Students could investigate new real estate developments and how they address water infrastructure issues when they are building.