Minecraft as an educational tool.

With the irony of the Minecraft movie subsiding, I want to talk about how much of a cultural phenomenon this video game really is. I started playing Minecraft when I was 12 years old in 2009 when the alpha version of the game was released, I am now 27 and still play Minecraft. Furthermore, working in a school with children who are the age that I was when I was first playing Minecraft and hearing them still talk about playing the game with their friends is genuinely mesmerizing to me. Video games often have finite life cycles, but Minecraft is different, why is that? I ask myself that question a lot, but I do think I'm sort of reaching an answer, I think what makes Minecraft so fantastic is it capability to lending itself to individual expression. It acts more like a game engine than a game if used in this way and I've recently been thinking about using Minecraft as a tool within schools. The sky is the limit for a game like Minecraft. Of course, it can be used in stem classes that have engineering units, but it can also be used to teach rudimentary programming, circuitry, math, and it can even be used in art classes. If used properly, Minecraft can be used to teach interactive lessons on almost any subject that you'd teach within a school.

Comments

  1. Kara McElwrathApril 27, 2025 at 3:56 PM

    We are huge Minecraft fans at my house! My youngest son saw the movie on opening night with his friends - and he said it definitely lived up to the hype. My boys have been playing for several years now (they are 16 and 20), and while other games have come and gone, Minecraft is a constant for them, too. I assume you've seen Minecraft's education platform: https://education.minecraft.net/en-us I think it's a powerful tool for classrooms, and I hope to see more of it in schools!

    I have really enjoyed getting to know you better through your blog postings this semester. Your passion for teaching shines through in your writing - I can't wait to see what the future holds for you! It has been an honor for me to work with you this semester.

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