Overview and Background

Assuming this will happen in a classroom students will learn the conceptual foundation to understand perimeter and area. The learning begins with basic design principals applied in minecraft using a medieval theme. Castles had moats for a reason which is a great way to teach perimeter. Area soon follows with the inside castle area being compared to the area including the moat and a discussion as to why they are different. Once printed students can make a real connection with the difference between perimeter and area.

Objectives
Understand the difference between perimeter and area.

Skills Learned (Standards)
Standard 3.MD.8: Solve real world problems involving perimeters of polygons, including finding the perimeter given the side lengths and finding an unknown side length, and exhibiting rectangles with the same perimeter and different areas or with the same area and different perimeters and asks students to solve for perimeter using real-world problems.

Math: 4.MD.3
Measurement And Data

Sub-Category
Solve Problems Involving Measurement And Conversion Of Measurements From A Larger Unit To A Smaller Unit.

State Standard
Apply the area and perimeter formulas for rectangles in real world and mathematical problems. For example, find the width of a rectangular room given the area of the flooring and the length, by viewing the area formula as a multiplication equation with an unknown factor.

Grade 5 is a bit tougher but still doable.

Grade 5 Module 5: Addition and Multiplication with Volume and Area

In this 25-day module, students work with two- and three-dimensional figures. Volume is introduced to students through concrete exploration of cubic units and culminates with the development of the volume formula for right rectangular prisms. The second half of the module turns to extending students’ understanding of two-dimensional figures. Students combine prior knowledge of area with newly acquired knowledge of fraction multiplication to determine the area of rectangular figures with fractional side lengths. They then engage in hands-on construction of two-dimensional shapes, developing a foundation for classifying the shapes by reasoning about their attributes. This module fills a gap between Grade 4’s work with two-dimensional figures and Grade 6’s work with volume and area.

Duration
It take about 5-7 1-period classes for most students to finish their castles. It can take a bit to print them out depending on how many printers you have and what nozzle diameter you use to print it. Expect to go through a few roll of PLA. I wouldn't use ABS unless you can absolutely make the print stick. Some of these castles can take 4-5 hours to print with a .4mm nozzle.

Lesson Plan and Activity

Begin with MinecraftEdu if you can. It's about $500 for a server license and 32 workstation licenses. If you can do that then just get the regular minecraft license.
Next download mineways. It's free and pretty easy to use after watching a five minute youtube video.
Now go over the basics of castles and moats with a focus on why there was a moat to begin with. Now connect that with the concept of perimeter. Using real world concepts with academic vocabulary to introduce profound understanding.
Review their minecraft design and make sure the walls are tall enough and the moat is deep enough to come out when you print them.
Download the minecraft map using mineways and save it as an stl.
Print out the design and have your student label it and paint it to look like a castle.
Teach your students that minecraft is a block system and each block counts as one. You can choose whatever unit of measure you want but I would start with "block." Have them say my castle has a perimeter of "X" blocks. This allows them to understand the concept. Later you can have them measure other objects and introduce units of measure after they understand the concept.

Duration of Lesson

5-7 class periods

Preparation

Students should know about minecraft and how to use it or expect to do some lessons on using it. Youtube is great for that. If their not accustomed to using a keyboard and mouse give them time to practice.

Rubric and Assessment

My only assessment was that they could label their castle with the correct perimeter and area.

References

minecraftedu:

http://education.minecraft.net/minecraftedu/

mineways:

http://www.realtimerendering.com/erich/minecraft/public/mineways/

how to use it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmsnE85GNV8

youtube link on minecraft:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=minecraft+tutorial

3D Printed Minecraft Castle Teaches Perimeter and Area