Minecraft Edu

          For the past couple of years, the video game "Minecraft" has grown with insane popularity and sold millions of copies across several gaming platforms. The object of this simple game is to craft tools, collect resources, fight monsters, and create whatever the player is feeling, whether it be a small house or a giant city. It is a simple game in both gameplay and design, as its graphics mainly consist of enlarged pixels set to different colors and patterns to discern different things.
          The playing space of a Minecraft world is immense. Each world is randomly generated by a specific code, and Minecraft worlds are composed of mainly blocks. The image to the right shows a small portion of a world. Here, you can see a cave that has carved itself into a small mountainside. The reason the hill looks brown is because that is how a dirt block looks with grass on top. Even the cows at the top of the hill look blocky. There is not really anything round in this game. In regards to a world's size, specifically on the computer version of the game, the surface area spans 30,000,000 blocks. Technically, the worlds are infinite, but this number denotes the limited play space. The total surface area, including the "infinite" space, is approximately between eight and nine times larger than the surface area of planet Earth. The image below shows where the edge of the world is, where all vegetation ceases to grow. Once a player reaches this point, they can travel no further. [1]

          Now that I've explained some of the simple aspects of the game, let's look at how it can be used for educational purposes. The game itself is mainly targeted toward children, though gamers of all ages can enjoy its simplicity. There are no complicated controls, and the interface for holding items, crafting/cooking things, and storing items is also easy to use. Many of the means of gathering resources are rather easy as well. Need food? Plant seeds or kill animals for food. You also need fuel, like wood or coal, to cook meats, or you can get sick and lose health. A child would be able to make deductions like these and could manage on their own. Of course, they will need to build shelter to protect themselves from the monsters that come out at night, so this is where a house would be handy. All of these things are easy to learn through normal gameplay. What if I told you a teacher could use this game to teach children about science, community, math, and safety? This can be very possible through this game, and it will also be a fun way for children to learn. Let this guy from the PBS Idea Channel on YouTube better explain the point I'm making. (Bear with the number of words he can speak in six minutes, it's actually pretty interesting.)

 

Education through Minecraft doesn't even have to be for children alone, as the video suggests. It can also be used to teach students about computers and programming. While having all schools be able to use Minecraft as a teaching tool would be fun and useful, at this time, it's not quite a tangible goal to be reached. But for now, as the game continues to grow, so too shall the number of classrooms learning in a blocky world.