Beginning February 21, 2023, Los Angeles Unified will launch a city-wide Minecraft Education challenge providing students with an opportunity to navigate through a customized virtual representation of Los Angeles, interacting with experts as they consider, “How can we envision connected, equitable, inclusive and sustainable communities in Los Angeles that moves all our residents forward without leaving anyone behind?” and learning about sustainable city living through local experts. This prompt is aligned to the Instructional Technology Initiative’s efforts around leveraging Computer Science for good, along with global collaboration through the lens of United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and more specifically the C40 Goals for Los Angeles as part of a network of global cities to confront the climate crisis.

​As teachers plan interdisciplinary tasks connected to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), students will build virtual proposals in Minecraft Education encapsulating their vision for Los Angeles’ future. These proposals will then be submitted for consideration by a panel of judges.

What is Minecraft Education?

Minecraft is an open-world game that promotes creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving in an immersive environment where the only limit is your imagination. Minecraft Education differs from the regular video game version as it is aimed for use in the classroom and contains features such as classroom mode and assessment tools that enable powerful learning experiences.

To learn more about Minecraft Education in the classroom, watch this video.

The Challenge

MAIN PROMPT: How can we envision connected, equitable, inclusive and sustainable communities in Los Angeles that moves all our residents forward without leaving anyone behind?

REGIONAL PROMPTS: Below you will find focus areas for each region that tie in to the main prompt. It is recommended that your students build for the Region where your school is located. If students have more time later, they can build for other regional prompts of their interest.

How to Participate in the Challenge

• All students and teachers have access to Minecraft Education and are invited to participate in the challenge. Teachers will have access to an educator’s guide, with accompanying Student Guide , exemplars with connections to the curriculum, and ongoing professional learning sessions.
• Once you have access to Minecraft Education, download and open the Los Angeles world to start your challenge journey. Here, students will find in-game characters that will assist them on their journey before they start building.
• Review the rubric before you start so you understand what the judges are looking for.
• Submit your project through a video recording that is no more than 1-minute and 30-seconds in length and clearly explains the following:
  • What problem are you addressing?
  • Your research into the problem
  • How you designed your solution
  • How your solutions solve the problem you selected

Important Dates

• Informational launch: January 25, 2023; Register on MyPLN Key Words: Level Up
• Challenge begins: February 21, 2023
• Challenge ends: April 28, 2023
• Finalists shared: April 12, 2023

What is C40 Cities?

C40 is a network of mayors of nearly 100 world-leading cities collaborating to deliver the urgent action needed right now to confront the climate crisis. Mayors of C40 cities are deploying a science-based and collaborative climate action to help the world limit global heating to 1.5°C and build healthy, equitable and resilient communities. To learn more about C40 Cities, watch this video.

What are SDGs?

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests. To learn more about SDGs, visit their homepage.

Get Started with Minecraft Education

Minecraft Education is available to all Los Angeles Unified students through their school student account.

1. Open the Minecraft Education app
2. Select Sign in
3. Sign in with your LAUSD Single Sign on (SSO) email and password

Download the latest version of Minecraft Education on iPad, MacBook, or Chromebook. For technical support, please contact ITD at achieve.lausd.net/itd