Minecraft in Education

Minecraft is a sandbox indie game originally created by Swedish programmer Markus “Notch” Persson and later developed and published by Mojang. The creative and building aspects of Minecraft allow players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D procedurally generated world. Other activities in the game include exploration, gathering resources, crafting and combat. Gameplay in its commercial release has two principal modes: survival, which requires players to acquire resources and maintain their health and hunger; and creative, where players have an unlimited supply of resources, the ability to fly, and no health or hunger. Minecraft is being used to teach more than just computer skills. It easily lends itself to science, technology, engineering and maths explorations. But beyond that, language teachers are strengthening communication skills, civics teachers are exploring how societies function, and history teachers are having their students recreate ancient civilizations. It is a wonderful extension tool to expand and push problem solving and engage the higher order thinking skills as students plan, develop and build their learning projects.  Information sourced Minecraft Wikipedia

“Need more convincing that Minecraft can be a powerful tool for learning? Check out this fun video from PBS Idea Channel’s Mike Rugnetta, who specifically (and very quickly) lists a number of ways the video game can and has been used to learn everything from physics to history.” Mind/Shift.org

Here are some links to excellent Minecraft resources and builds:

• Minecraft Edu: Educational organisation formed by American and Finnish educators with the goal of introducing the Minecraft into schools. The group works with Mojang to make the game (modified for classroom) affordable and accessible to schools. In September 2012, there were approximately 250,000 students around the world with access to Minecraft through the company. A wide variety of educational activities involving the game have been developed to teach students various subjects, including history, language arts and science. For an example, one teacher built a world consisting of various historical landmarks for students to learn and explore.
• Minecraft Edu Wiki:This wiki contains a wealth of tutorials and details about how the Minecraft Edu mod works.
• Real world examples: See how others are using Minecraft in the classroom.
• Block by Block: Fantastic youth urban planning project with the UN and Minecraft
  

  Block by Block Project

• Pipedreams: Year5/6 GATS project
• South Grafton Public School: Search MinecraftEdu
• Crossmaglen Public School: Search MinecraftEdu
• Massively@Jokaydia: “This Australian project is designed for children aged 4-16yrs who are interested in gaining digital media skills, exploring their creativity and developing online social skills.Minecraft is used to support a safe, whitelisted server and a range of activities which encourage kids to choose their own playful learning pathways and adventures.”
• Project Mist: Tasmanian school Riverside High YouTube channel
• Donelle Batty: Project Mist teacher blog with excellent blogroll
• Nick Patsianas: Amazing NSW Year 9 student who enabled Minecraft to be allowed in NSW DEC schools in 2012 he also runs the server for the Oz Minecraft Educators group
• Coffs Harbour Public School ES1 project: Kindergarten project planned for Term 3 2013.
• Minecraft in SchoolsWiki: Excellent resource from Lucas Gillispie Instructional Technology Co-ordinator Pender County, USA
• Colin Gallagher Minechat YouTube site
• Google+ Minecraft in Education Group: Excellent!!
• John Miller: Secondary History Teacher fantastic projects!

Joe Levin (Minecraft Edu developer and teacher) talks about using Minecraft in his classroom:

Exceptional building!

High Rossferry City

These are renders of our Minecraft city. We’ve been working on it off and on for 19 months now with just 2 people. We’re inspired by great artists from Van Gogh to Mondriaan, and architects like Mies van der Rohe and Rietveld. There are many references to art, science, music and movies, all over the city.