Natural and Artificial Light
Use redstone and build circuits in Minecraft to explore the concepts of artificial light and natural light.
Learning objectives
Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to investigate light and sound. Ask questions to identify and compare sources of light.
Students will be able to use Redstone to build circuits that provide artificial light.
Students will be able to describe artificial light and natural light and give examples of each.
Guiding ideas
Lesson Created by Jennifer Lewis
• Can I name types of natural and artificial light in Minecraft?
• Can I build circuits to turn on lights?
• Can I build a house with lights?
Student activities
Before Lesson Preparation
- To save time, log students in to Minecraft and open the world. Older students can be used to assist with this.
- Assign students a partner to work with. For this lesson, it will be helpful to pair one strong reader and one struggling reader so that all students can access the directions given by the NPCs. These students will also be their “turn and talk” partners.
- Ask students “What is light?”
- Ask students “Where does light come from?”
- Tell students that we will be using Minecraft: Education Edition to learn more about light. Show students the world and ask what they notice about it. Move player around and ask for more observations. Make sure students notice the path and the items in the tool bar.
- Show students how to click on the NPC to see its message.
- Click on the link to the BrainPOP Jr. Video about light and have students watch it.
- After the video, ask students to summarize the difference between natural and artificial light.
- Ask students “Do you think there are natural and artificial lights in Minecraft?”
- Demonstrate how to move along the path to #2. Right click on the NPC and ask one volunteer to read its message out loud. Students turn and talk to a partner about types of natural and artificial light. Have several volunteers share their ideas with the whole class.
- Have students move along the path to #3 on their own computers. Tell students to right click on the NPC and ask student partners to read its message together and then follow the directions.
- Ask students to flip the switch to see what happens. Students should turn and talk to a partner to see if they can determine a way to make the lamp turn on.
- Ask students “How did you turn on the lamp?”
- Explain that the red stuff is called Redstone and it carries electricity. The block is a lamp and the switch turns the lamp on and off. Have students recreate the circuit in the space provided using materials already in their inventory.
- Have students move along the path to #4 and #5. Tell students to right click on each NPC and ask one partner to read the messages out loud. Allow students time to complete #4 and #5.
- As students complete #4 and #5, encourage them to move along the path to #6 and #7. Tell students to right click on the NPCs and have one partner to read its message. Allow students time to create their house with natural and artificial lights and experiment with nether rack to create a campfire.
Performance expectations
Demonstrate to students how to edit a sign. Have students move to #8 to edit the sign to share what they learned. Ask several students to share their answers with the class.
Performance Expectations/Success Criteria
- I can name types of natural and artificial light.
- I can build a circuit using Redstone to turn on a light.
- I can build a house that uses natural and artificial lights.
