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
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.
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.
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.
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.
- YouTube URL
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I50_9tr6Cp8
Getting Started with Minecraft
This How-To Geek guide shows step-by-step how to get Minecraft running on your computer.
How to survive your first night in Minecraft in only 11 steps
This tutorial can give you an idea of what Minecraft is all about. It's as much an environment as a game, one where one can learn and have fun at their own pace.
Controls in Minecraft
Nothing is more frustrating than getting Minecraft installed and running, and then realizing that you have no idea how to move. (Use the W key and space bar.) Here's a simple list of keyboard commands.
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