The popularity of Video Games has been growing rapidly in this digital era, especially among youth and adults. One of the most popular video games is Minecraft, an Online Multiplayer Game (MOG).
Video Games such as Minecraft, a digital sandbox and pixilated video game that allows users to create and manipulate simulated worlds, enable individuals to have full control over creating and modifying these worlds in intentional ways.
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What is Minecraft, and why is it so popular?
The creator of Minecraft, Mojang, LLC, describes the video game as about laying blocks and building structures to create wonderful, imaginative things together or alone (Mojang, n.d.).
The Three-Dimensional (3D) Lego-like environment and Block-Based Mechanics in Minecraft make it an ideal workspace for students to learn mathematical principles and test their ideas, Area and perimeter, patterns, ratios, and coordinates all come to life when they're laid out spatially and can be manipulated with a click. Learning with a game that students know and love also keeps them engaged and energized.
Minecraft has become a notable game in the digital era and in some schools. For instance, students benefit from using Minecraft to enhance their learning in STEM/STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) and English Language Arts content areas. Teachers also benefit from using Minecraft to enhance academic engagement and reinforce parental involvement.
Specifically, this article examines the educational research on the use of Minecraft in the classroom. Suggests educational benefits for students and practical classroom approaches for teachers from a variety of disciplines and provides a handout for teachers to share with parents about how they can help support their children's literacy practices and learning through Minecraft play.
Minecraft is good for kids?
Yes, Video games like Minecraft provide Vital Benefits to Kids, helping them; to express and control their emotions, build strong social ties, and spark creativity, imagination, peer engagement, and teamwork. Minecraft is particularly significant to learning because youth learn to process information in different ways.
The Benefits of Minecraft for Kids
1. Life skills are enhanced by playing Minecraft
Minecraft promotes creativity, problem-solving, self-direction, and collaboration all of which are less tangible, non-academic benefits. These are skills that will help kids succeed when they eventually make their way to college and a career.
Creativity
A unique feature of Minecraft is that it offers parents and kids the opportunity to create anything they can imagine as long as it fits within the game's 3D grid. Every game mode in Minecraft offers different creative possibilities.
Minecraft already has pirate galleys, re-creations of both fictional and real-world cities, and even your favorite sci-fi ships built by people who haven't graduated high school. That's some serious creativity! Go to Google and search for "cool things built in Minecraft." It will blow your mind.
Problem-Solving
Survival mode, in which different creatures attack players at night, is just one example of how Minecraft encourages creativity Players are dropped into varying environments and must quickly find shelter, create weapons, and gather food to survive. The strategy takes center stage here, as players have just 10 real-world minutes to figure out how to stay alive.
Self-Direction
Furthermore, Minecraft is unique since it does not have a "win" option. Players must decide what they want from their time in the game.
Would they like to collect resources and build cool stuff? Would they like to band together with their fellows and defeat a boss? That's up to them!
Independence - and the satisfaction of checking off the next goal on one's chosen path - makes children feel like they are in control of their lives, which can be lacking in today's rule-filled world.
Collaboration
Minecraft is a great game for kids to play with friends (read how to set up a Minecraft server), or anywhere else in the world. They can pool resources, build structures, defeat monsters, and trade tips, all while communicating and cooperating. Kids can apply these social skills in real life after playing Minecraft.
2. Minecraft complements school skills
One mom, Michelle Conaway, has written several blog posts about how playing Minecraft has helped her children, especially in reading, writing, and math. Many schools are now using Minecraft in the classroom.
Reading and Writing
The blocky, virtual world has improved her sons' reading comprehension, spelling, interest in journaling, and other creative endeavors.
"Simply, they've found a reason to learn to read and to hone their skills", Michelle says. "The motivation comes from their desire to advance in the game."
She says her sons' spelling and writing skills have greatly improved. "Multiplayer servers rely heavily on the chat section," Michelle says. "Their writing skills have improved because they want to be heard and express themselves. It has even contributed to other aspects of their lives, including email, Facebook, writing letters, and making homemade books."
Due to the real-world elements, her sons encounter in the game, Michelle often takes her boys to the library to check out books on gemstones, biomes, and even space.
Research skills are also required to advance in Minecraft. To do so, players must find information, such as from Wiki pages and YouTube tutorials to find out what's useful to them. (That sounds a lot like the way college theses are written, doesn't it?)
Math
Math is another huge and potentially surprising aspect of Minecraft.
“I have seen kids figure out how many minutes remain until ‘night time’, average the amount of food needed to go on a mining adventure, divide supplies evenly among players, and estimate the area needed to build a city," Michelle says. “The math concepts are all around them and they must learn them to succeed.”
Michelle's youngest son even asked her to quiz him on multiplication flashcards, something he had never done before. "He got every one of them right -- without ever doing worksheets or studying textbooks," Michelle reports.
Many educators have used Minecraft to boost results and engage students with mathematics through its many natural applications.
Teachers guide students through manipulating blocks, creating more complex shapes, and solving geometric problems in Minecraft. A Los Angeles teacher said his "Mathcraft" program helped improve math performance from 18% to 83% during retesting at the end of the year.
History
Is history included too? Absolutely! Minecraft can help students who might be turned off by memorization of historical facts and dates. Why? Due to its ability to import fully-reconstructed versions of famous buildings and landmarks, or to build your own.
A virtual tour of the Great Pyramids, the Globe Theatre, or the Coliseum is a great way to bring history to life.
With a closer look at these buildings, kids can gain a better understanding of the architecture involved, and compare and contrast how different structures were designed and constructed.
3. Minecraft develops career skills
Yes, Minecraft can be directly applicable to workplace skills that will help your child land a decent job someday.
Business Principles
Your child can prepare for a career in various fields like systems administration, management, and business with Minecraft. The benefits of hosting a server are enormous, as marketing specialist Mark discovered when he started playing on a friend's server.
Mark says, "My son's 17-year-old friend acquired and maintained the hardware, learned the technology for hosting a Minecraft server, installed mods, and had to ensure the mods were compatible with the latest Minecraft version, maintain the server, and provide support to all the players." I ask, "Don't system administrators get paid well for this kind of work?"
They do Mark also noted that his son and a friend are actively promoting their server on Twitter, Facebook, and forums, which means they are gaining marketing experience as well.
STEM Knowledge
Don't want your child to be a server administrator? In addition to familiarity with computer hardware and functions, kids learn Minecraft design principles and coding (more on that below) These STEM skills (science, technology, engineering, and math) are valuable in a 21st-century workplace; some call coding the new literacy!
A Global Perspective
Kids are now able to play with anyone around the world, mirroring what business has become a global marketplace. How much more competitive will your son or daughter be if they are already comfortable with common telecommunication tools like Skype, and have the social skills to communicate clearly and effectively with people all over the world?
By nature of Minecraft's social nature, it teaches players how to share responsibilities, assign roles, negotiate designs, and complete projects -- all incredibly valuable career skills. These skills can be the hardest to teach but are also the most desirable to future employers.
Lastly, Gain the Valuable Educational Benefits of Minecraft for Kids
When your child asks for more Minecraft Time (and you know they will!) think about all of the useful, practical skills they're learning. Watch them play and give them your full attention. Aren't you tickled that they're learning while having fun? That’s the best kind of education.