Notes

Minecraft is Building an Education for Students

Recently, we spoke about the Oregon Trail of our youth and the benefits of gamification, but Minecraft is going much farther by bringing games to the classroom. hbl.info Minecraft is a huge success for children across the world. The game that started as a small two-person operation in a tiny French town has now exploded and consumed millions of tiny brains, with more than 200 million copies sold. Minecraft stands out from other blockbuster games due to its blurry and cartoony graphics. Simply put the game is made up of mining and crafting. You first search for resources, then you use them in order to build other things. You'll first have to construct a shelter for nighttime security. This occurs every four hours. If you fail, then spiders, skeletons and zombies will eat your brains, and your character dies. Parents, don't be worried there's no blood or gore in Minecraft monster-fighting. The above description sounds like it's educational however, according to researchers, Minecraft can actually teach children how to react in real-life situations. The game is what is called an "open-ended Sandbox" which means that there are no guidelines and it can be confusing initially. Children and adults alike must explore the game and try to figure out its secrets. There are websites like Minecraft Wiki designed to help curious little minds discover the game. For instance, I saw my seven-year-old daughter watching videos on YouTube that she had checked out looking for Minecraft assistance. Children can also seek help from other Minecraft players who are searching for the same goals. In-game resources are extremely valuable. Others can attack a character and kill them (remember that there isn't blood) and then steal their loot. To be successful, players must learn to protect their belongings from other players in order to avoid conflict. When players work together there is always the possibility that one of the other builders will get angry and ruin the hours of hard work. So in other words, it's an all-dogs-playing-dogs world in Minecraft. Even though it sounds cruel, children are still attracted by the game and will spend hours building their own town, historic monument or any other thing they can think of. There is no limit to your creativity in Minecraft. Through collaboration, social skills, security awareness and creativity, as well as research, problem-solving and a lot of determination, it is clear to see how Minecraft can easily be adapted to real-life solutions to real-life issues. This is the reason why many teachers have chosen Minecraft to use in their classrooms. Minecraftedu.com was specifically designed for teachers and children who work in a classroom. By providing thousands of licences to teachers, Minecraft has helped children learn valuable life lessons in a fun environment (what child doesn't like to play games?) The foundation provides lessons plans that are updated by educators daily to function as a collective group or community.



As mentioned in the video clip Digital citizenship is becoming more and more important as our dependence on technology increases. Children are being asked to learn about the ethics of online safety and bullying at an increasingly young age. Minecraft is a platform that encourages children to participate and engage them to develop digital citizenship skills in a controlled classroom.



As a major supporter of STEAM education (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) we encourage our youth to be exposed to technology at an early age and discover how far their creativity could take them. Learn more about our STEAM initiatives by visiting an elementary school that has a bunch cool gadgets like the Raspberry Pi to discover what we can all learn together.


Here's my website: https://hbl.info/