Minecraft

This sandbox block building game has been rated at the 2nd popular game of all time, surpassed only by Tetris. And it's made great inroads into education.

What Is Minecraft

This 1 minute video will give you a good idea of what your students are doing with Minecraft, sometimes described as the world's biggest sandbox.

YouTube URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmB9b5njVbA

larger image of https://education.minecraft.net/

image of https://education.minecraft.net/

Minecraft: Education Edition

This site outlines some of the ways Minecraft is being used in schools. It has been used in everything from science and literature to architecture and interactive stories. Find tutorials and lesson plans here.

larger image of https://www.wired.com/2014/10/video-game-literacy/

image of https://www.wired.com/2014/10/video-game-literacy/

How Videogames Like Minecraft Actually Help Kids Learn to Read

As anyone who has played the game knows, Minecraft comes with minimal instructions or tutorials.

Brecht Vandenbroucke explains in detail how new players immediately set about hunting for info on how it works. That means students poring over how-to texts at Minecraft wikis and "walk-through" sites and young kids digging into printed manuals written for students from grade 8 to grade 11.

'Schoolifying' Minecraft Without Ruining It

This article from NPR looks at how Microsoft's ownership of Minecraft is changing the platform, some of the challenges of Minecraft Education Edition, and why teachers are hanging on to their MinecraftEdu licenses.

Minecraft for Parents: 7 tips to help you get involved

A good resource for teachers as well, Fabrizio Ferri-Benedetti explains Minecraft and how parents can get involved in Minecraft with their kids.

larger image of https://www.brisbanekids.com.au/minecraft-tips-for-parents/

image of https://www.brisbanekids.com.au/minecraft-tips-for-parents/

Fundamental Minecraft Tips for Parents

Parents and teachers ask: "Are the kids obsessed with Minecraft? Need to learn how to install mods? Looking for party ideas? Don't have a clue what a spider jockey is?" Find the answers to these and many more Minecraft related questions here.

larger image of https://code.org/minecraft

Teach kids to code with Minecraft

Code.org's 2015 third annual Hour of Code includes this Minecraft module in partnership with Microsoft. It's part of their worldwide campaign that tries to demystify code by teaching the basics of computer science in just an hour.

Students tackle a series of 14 coding challenges, including some free play time so they can take the coding tactics they learn and explore the Minecraft world with code.

Instead of typing in text, kids six and up can use a tool called Blockly, a Google project that represents lines of code as blocks, making it easier to visualize how commands and loops and logic statements fit together.

Minecraft in education

A quick overview of how Minecraft can be used in the classroom, and an invitation for teachers to join the conversation. Minecraft can be a stepping stone to what the future of education will look like.

Best quote: "I [the teacher] don't know a lot about this technology, but you do. What I know a lot about is what you need to learn. ... Sometimes the students are learning from the teachers. Sometimes the teachers are learning from the students."

Right now, everyone is learning.