We Are The Rangers: Explore Wildlife Conservation in Minecraft

To celebrate Earth Day on April 22, we have launched We Are The Rangers, a series of standards-aligned lessons and worlds about wildlife conservation developed in partnership with United for Wildlife.

Five lesson plans, each with key learning objectives, guiding ideas and student activities, provide educators with tools to introduce the science, economics and politics of conservation in an immersive Minecraft world. Students can tackle pangolin trafficking at a working port, use DNA to investigate ivory poaching, research land-use conflict, reintroduce rhinos to a habitat and live the life of a ranger. The lessons can be used across ages and subject areas, and build digital citizenship skills through project-based learning.

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For example, the Detecting Wildlife Crime lesson includes a downloadable shipping port world. Working in teams, students investigate the people working at a port to identify traffickers and rescue pangolins from a shipping container. Students discuss and map the social and economic drivers of the animal trafficking trade. The lesson also encourages the educator to facilitate a conversation about the role of the media and advertising in trafficking. In this single lesson, teams of students work together to conduct research and carry out an investigation, develop persuasive arguments and write reflective essays.

United for Wildlife is a collaboration of seven international conservation organizations created by The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry to fight illegal animal trade. United for Wildlife includes the Nature Conservancy, Conservation International and the World Wildlife Fund, and is committed to building awareness of the most pressing conservation issues of our time.

With the launch of We Are The Rangers, Minecraft Education and United for Wildlife aim to engage students in learning about conservation and animal trafficking, and inspire action for this important cause – not just on Earth Day, but every day.