Chess game
In this lesson you can play a chess game, moving pieces on the chess board. Students can also redesign the pieces they are going to use on the main board and practice their tactics with the Agent.
Learning objectives
Play by the rules a chess game
Explore how to redesign chess pieces in Minecraft
Practice basic chess movements coding the Agent
Teacher prep and notes
In this lesson there are no instructions about how to play the game in order to allow the teachers to complete this information in the way they prefer or personalize the language of the game easier.
There are three main scenarios, each one of them can be access from the spawn point:
- Practice area: in this space a series of chess boards can be found along with the Agent. In here students can practice each piece movements with the Agent or try different tactics if they want. They can place blocks on the boards to simulate the pieces. They need a basic knowledge of coding to move the Agent around.
- White & Dark side: in this area students can access the control of the main board, using the left side to select the piece they want to move and the right area to select where they want to move the piece.
Also there is a space outside where they can redesign the pieces to their liking. In this area they can clone the pieces onto the main board or reset it back to normal. There are structure blocks that allow them to 3D export the designs, if they want to print them out.
Main board lmitations:
- Queening a pawn is not an option.
- Death pieces cannot be account during the game.
Guiding ideas
How do we play a chess game? What are the basic rules we need to follow? How each pieces moves on the board? How are the pieces made?
Those questions and more can be inquiried by the students before playing the game.
Student activities
Once they are in game they can choose where to go:
- Practice area.
- Color side: inside each space they can choose if they want to redesign the pieces or play a game.
It is recommended that students play the game in pair, so each one of them choose one of the color isdes. Thay can spend one lesson redesigning pieces and another one playing the game.
Students can play as many times as they want in game and record their last movementes on the practice area.
Performance expectations
Students can use the camera and portfolio to record their games and reflect about them after or during the game. They can hold a design contest with new ideas for the pieces.
At the end, they should get use to play the game in Minecraft, taking their time to think and play their movements.
