This week in class we were fortunate enough to be visited by Middle Schoolers who shared with us the value of MinecraftEDU as a pedagogical tool. It was great to hear from learners directly the impact that this technology has had in their learning journey, and the ways in which it has positively shaped their education.
I’ve stated before that I am incredibly inept and uneducated when it comes to the world of video games, so I found it valuable to be able to explore MinecraftEDU in the class with easy-to-follow instructions. While the game seemed simple enough to use, I suppose what I did not find clearly conveyed to me was the value in implementing it into class education in return for the amount of effort it would take me to build a curriculum with the game.
My takeaway from the lesson was that the visiting teacher had success with Minecraft in the classroom because she genuinely believed in it’s value to create change in education, and had the passion and determination to make it effective. While Minecraft likely won’t be a revolutionary technology in my own teaching, that passion was inspirational nonetheless.
I was curious to do a bit more research into the education values of Minecraft and found this interesting article: https://www.whoishostingthis.com/compare/minecraft/education/
It breaks down what Minecraft is, provides research supporting its use in class, as well as links to resources and tutorials should you attempt to implement it.
