Video game 'Minecraft' finds a home in schools
Students build digital worlds to learn about everything from history to science
April 28, 2014|By John Keilman, Tribune reporter
Seventh-graders at Northbrook's Maple School had just started learning about the Cold War when a handful of boys sat down at the school's library computers to cement their understanding of the subject.
They weren't scouring Wikipedia for historical information or reviewing old news footage on YouTube. They were building a model of divided Germany with the help of one of the world's hottest video games: "Minecraft."
"It's really a great visual tool for presenting our knowledge, just like you would use something like PowerPoint to show off your research," said Arie Estrin, 12, who was assembling a nuclear submarine, block by digital block. "That's what we do with 'Minecraft.' It's a good way to channel your thoughts into understanding how something might have actually looked or happened."
A game like "Minecraft" might seem better suited for the rec room than the classroom, but more and more teachers are tapping its creative power to educate students in everything from history to engineering to biology.
It's part of a movement that aims to motivate kids through familiar and beloved technology. Teachers are using games such as "Assassin's Creed" to illustrate the Revolutionary War and "World of Warcraft" to inspire creative writing exercises, but nothing has had the impact of "Minecraft," which has more than 100 million registered users worldwide.
"It's virtual Legos," said Zack Gilbert, a sixth-grade teacher in Normal, Ill., who hosts a podcast on gaming in education. "When parents are like, 'I don't know (about the merit of using video games in class),' I say, 'Did you play Legos as a kid?'
"That's what this is, except it's virtual and there's more building and creating than you could ever do (in the real world)."
"Minecraft" was the brainchild of Markus Persson, a Swedish game designer enchanted by the relatively simple graphics and open-ended play of the games he encountered in his youth. Released in 2009, "Minecraft" lets users build almost anything they can imagine out of multicolored cubes.
The results are frequently stunning. YouTube is teeming with guided tours of highly detailed "Minecraft" worlds, ranging from university libraries and New York City skyscrapers to the fantasy lands of "Game of Thrones" and "Harry Potter."
Northwestern University student Ben Rothman spent hundreds of hours rendering the school's campus on "Minecraft" two years ago, then ran his creation through a 3-D printer. The resulting model, roughly 5 feet by 4 feet, was put on display in the lobby of the university's Technological Institute.
"The main driving force was that I noticed that I had been spending 20 hours a week playing video games," said Rothman, 22. "I figured, 'I'm going to do this anyway. Why don't I do something that will let me play but also get something out of it?'"
That's a pretty good summation of the recipe that has helped "Minecraft" catch on at hundreds of schools worldwide. Joel Levin, a former teacher who helped create a version of the game for educators, said his young daughter picked up sophisticated math skills such as estimation and proportion merely by building a "Minecraft" house.
Students build digital worlds to learn about everything from history to science
April 28, 2014|By John Keilman, Tribune reporter
Seventh-graders at Northbrook's Maple School had just started learning about the Cold War when a handful of boys sat down at the school's library computers to cement their understanding of the subject.
They weren't scouring Wikipedia for historical information or reviewing old news footage on YouTube. They were building a model of divided Germany with the help of one of the world's hottest video games: "Minecraft."
"It's really a great visual tool for presenting our knowledge, just like you would use something like PowerPoint to show off your research," said Arie Estrin, 12, who was assembling a nuclear submarine, block by digital block. "That's what we do with 'Minecraft.' It's a good way to channel your thoughts into understanding how something might have actually looked or happened."
A game like "Minecraft" might seem better suited for the rec room than the classroom, but more and more teachers are tapping its creative power to educate students in everything from history to engineering to biology.
It's part of a movement that aims to motivate kids through familiar and beloved technology. Teachers are using games such as "Assassin's Creed" to illustrate the Revolutionary War and "World of Warcraft" to inspire creative writing exercises, but nothing has had the impact of "Minecraft," which has more than 100 million registered users worldwide.
"It's virtual Legos," said Zack Gilbert, a sixth-grade teacher in Normal, Ill., who hosts a podcast on gaming in education. "When parents are like, 'I don't know (about the merit of using video games in class),' I say, 'Did you play Legos as a kid?'
"That's what this is, except it's virtual and there's more building and creating than you could ever do (in the real world)."
"Minecraft" was the brainchild of Markus Persson, a Swedish game designer enchanted by the relatively simple graphics and open-ended play of the games he encountered in his youth. Released in 2009, "Minecraft" lets users build almost anything they can imagine out of multicolored cubes.
The results are frequently stunning. YouTube is teeming with guided tours of highly detailed "Minecraft" worlds, ranging from university libraries and New York City skyscrapers to the fantasy lands of "Game of Thrones" and "Harry Potter."
Northwestern University student Ben Rothman spent hundreds of hours rendering the school's campus on "Minecraft" two years ago, then ran his creation through a 3-D printer. The resulting model, roughly 5 feet by 4 feet, was put on display in the lobby of the university's Technological Institute.
"The main driving force was that I noticed that I had been spending 20 hours a week playing video games," said Rothman, 22. "I figured, 'I'm going to do this anyway. Why don't I do something that will let me play but also get something out of it?'"
That's a pretty good summation of the recipe that has helped "Minecraft" catch on at hundreds of schools worldwide. Joel Levin, a former teacher who helped create a version of the game for educators, said his young daughter picked up sophisticated math skills such as estimation and proportion merely by building a "Minecraft" house.