Minecraft…the adventure is up to you
There is no denying the Minecraft boom in children’s mobile culture. In four years, this simple game has grown immensely in popularity and is now owned by software giant Microsoft, purchased for $2.5 billion. With millions of copies sold, it seems Microsoft is on the same page as thousands of school age children, that “Minecraft is awesome!” Even the mention of the word Minecraft in my grade one classroom, sets off a flurry of excited whispers.
To quote one my five year old students when asked why he enjoys Minecraft so much “I like Minecraft because I can build things. I even made a house with a roller-coaster on the roof! I can play on my xbox or my mommy’s ipad. I started playing when I was three. It’s the most popular video game in the world!”
The Minecraft experience encompasses learning to code, gamification, and digital creatively, and is being integrated into more and more classrooms, not to mention continuously growing in popularity outside of classrooms within children’s play and free time.
If you are interested below is an article from The New Yorker entailed Minecraft Parent that explores how Minecraft can be viewed as “…a drug designed to neutralize the fears of anxious parents…” in regards to screen times worries.” I’ve had many a parent say to me that they are comfortable with their child playing Minecraft as it encourage creatively. The lego for mobile technologies if you will. “The foundational experience is wholesome…shredded wheat for the mind.” (Agger, 2014)
References
Agger, M. (2014). Minecraft Parent. The New Yorker. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/minecraft-parent
Lange, S. (Photographer). (2015). [Digital]. Retrieved from http://www.stevelange.net/2011/10/24/making-your-own-minecraft-steve-head-from-pdfs/
Its so great that I keep coming across Minecraft in this course. This has been the first year that I have been using it in my classroom and I have to say I love it so much. I can’t believe what I had missed out on before. Its come along way creating its own culture. Students love it and when I use it as a tool to support my teaching the students do not realize they are actually doing assignments or learning in it. They just think they are playing, which is amazing. Since Microsoft has purchased Minecraft it has exploded in popularity from a kid game to an educational tool.