Educator Resource Guide

Game Overview

The Great Tech Story, the Computer History Museum’s world in Minecraft: Education Edition, inspires and empowers students from ages 8–16 to become engaged digital citizens. They will be inspired to make and user technology that impacts the world for the better. Students navigate the virtual museum to learn about the impact of computing technology and its relationship between the past, present, and future. Students can explore the artifacts on display and interact with non-player character (NPC) innovators and click links to “Learn more.”

Five of the NPCs invite students to teleport themselves to immersive experiences to learn hardware and software concepts, meet a startup team, debate ethics in tech, and see how technology is used in daily life.

After completing the five experiences, students engage in a build challenge that focuses on collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity, to build their capacity as active problem solvers and future innovators.

Build challenges are available on our website here.

Check back over time for new build challenges.

Suggestions for Classroom Facilitation

Educators may choose to facilitate The Great Tech Story in a variety of ways.

• Assign students to explore the museum and the five immersive experiences either in a single lesson, or over the course of several lessons to align with classroom curriculum.
• Assign students to complete a build challenge applying knowledge and skills gained exploring the museum and learning experiences.
  1. Build: Guide students to follow the build challenge prompt on the CHM Build Challenge web page.
  2. Record: Each student/team should record a video up to two minutes in length about their finished build. Students under 18 will need a parent, guardian, or educator to submit the recording. Video submissions should show the finished build with student narration to explain: what they built, why they built it, and how they integrated concepts from the immersive experiences and museum content.
  3. Submit: Complete the online form on the CHM Build Challenge web page to submit student recordings and feedback. Selected submissions may be shared on the CHM website.
• Assign students to explore the museum and learn about the various artifacts in alignment with the classroom curriculum. Suggested assignments include:
  • Students explore the artifacts on display and select three that interest them. They can click the links to “Learn more” and research the artifact to discover the history and purpose of each, then write a short report or present their findings to the class.
  • Students interact with NPC innovators in the museum and select one that interests them. They can click the links to “Learn more” and research the person to discover their background, the technology they worked with and the impact it has had, then write a short report or present their findings to the class.
  • Educators guide students through the museum in large or small groups as a virtual field trip experience, then students can continue to explore independently.
  • Educators create a scavenger hunt of items from the complete list of artifacts for students to search for and learn about specific artifacts and/or innovators in the museum. Educators may choose to select artifacts and/or innovators that are relevant to the topics they are teaching in the classroom.

Immersive Experiences

Five NPCs located throughout the exhibits teleport students to immersive experiences to explore different topics related to computing and technology.

	CHM Tour Guide Location in exhibit: Relay Teleports to: The Hardware Garage
	Margaret Hamilton Location in exhibit: Lunar Lander Teleports to: The Software Lab
	Entrepreneur Location in exhibit: Palm Pilot Teleports to: The Startup Workspace
	Ethics TA Location in exhibit: Self-driving Car Teleports to: The Ethics Forum
	Tech User Location in exhibit: Texting Teleports to: The Impact House