Minecraft is becoming so much more then just a video game. Its spread to offices (architects for example) and even classrooms. Microsoft is starting to push it even further and building a site for teacher resources! This makes me really wish I was back in school.
This new portal will be a common place for teachers to discuss the game and share classroom resources. The site isn’t complete yet but you can expect it coming soon.
You can check out Minecraft for Education here!
Welcome message from the blog:
Welcome! We’re glad you found us. You probably already know that Minecraft started as a game about creating, exploring, mining, and managing resources. That is the root of the experience but, over time, the community has shown us that it can mean much, much more.
Many of the most fun parts of Minecraft, including the collaborative nature of play, the need to experiment, the open world, the earning of achievements, and the growth of players’ in-game characters as well as their personal skill sets, are also key to excellent learning environments.
Very soon after Minecraft launched, we noticed teachers bringing the game into their classrooms. Often inspired by the passion of their students, they started using Minecraft to design history lessons, teach language classes, explore mathematics, physics, computer science, writing, and more. And, aside from students developing their knowledge of the subject matter, teachers saw other skills emerging. Students were solving complex problems through collaboration while learning about leadership and digital citizenship. Minecraft was helping them develop in many different ways.
We formed a relationship with two of the early-adopters – Joel Levin and Santeri Koivisto – who brought Minecraft to schools through TeacherGaming. We are working together to connect the community of players with the educators.
Our goal here is to invite you to share possibilities. We’ve created this space to connect the community of educators and players with people looking to learn more. So, what can you do? Share your story. Ask a question. Find a partner to help create your first Minecraft lesson. Tell us what you’ve learned so far, and help inspire the world to change the way we learn.
Sounds good to me! I wonder if students who are experienced and skilled in the game could be given the opportunity to learn to teach by teaching some Minecraft stuff? Hmm.