7 Things Kids Can Learn from Minecraft: Educational Gaming
While many parents might worry about how much time their kids are spending on video games, some great learning benefits can come from a healthy approach to gaming.
Minecraft is one of the most popular programs in the world because of the variety of options it offers users and the openness of the gameplay. Let’s explore 7 specific things kids learn from Minecraft.
Building, navigation, and construction in a 3D world
Minecraft allows users to build and construct things in 3d space. If you haven’t worked on a computer in 3d space before, think about the difference between drawing on a piece of paper and sculpting out of clay. When you work to create structures in 3 dimensions, your mind is making a lot more calculations and you are forced to look at things from different perspectives to achieve your goals.
Electrical wiring and logic gates
Redstone and redstone related items in Minecraft can function like electrical inputs and outputs. With the right wiring, you can create mechanical movement, or apply logic to an electrical system. You can make a circuit that acts as a lock for your door that can only be triggered from inside your house. You might create a ‘clock’ circuit to repeatedly send a signal to a piston that is set up as an obstacle in your parkour world. Throw a switch and open a secret door on the side of a mountain. People have even gone so far as to make in-game working computers with redstone.
Landscape design and planning
Substances like water in Minecraft add a lot of flexibility to your ability to build functioning landscape systems in Minecraft. You might build a garden on a hill with solar-powered irrigation to grow your crops efficiently. You can design a secret house into the side of a mountain if you’re looking for some natural camouflage. Roads, railways, or streams can be used in your world as a route between multiple communities to allow for travel and trading. Redstone wiring underneath it all can act as an electrical grid to power an entire city.
Game design
Because of the openness of the Minecraft platform, you can design several different types of games. You might create a game to test your parkour skills in a world that has obstacles, enemies, and things to collect. You can design and execute a plotline for an adventure game, add hidden clues for a scavenger hunt, or program a capture the flag game and open all of them up to friends for multi-player fun. Switching between the modes of play can give the designer the ability to test their project with different variables in place and make choices for what works best in their game.
Use of functions and commands
Running commands in Minecraft allows for a lot more options. It gives users the ability to execute a wide variety of built-in functions, affecting the gameplay. It can also act as an introduction to the use of functions, variables, and language syntax similar to traditional coding. In combination with redstone devices, the use of commands (via command blocks) can open up the world of Minecraft to an even greater wealth of options.
Teamwork and social skills
Minecraft can be a fantastic way for users to work together on a variety of different projects. The multiplayer option allows you to play with your sibling in the same house or a friend on the other side of the world. In survival mode, you can work with a friend to defeat mobs, mine for materials, and build structures to live in. In creative mode, you can work together to build large complex designs or collaborate on a game idea.
Reading
The world of Minecraft is massive. To understand how things work or learn about how to utilize the latest features, research is a crucial element. The wiki (along with hundreds of other sites) breaks apart every detail of the game and gives insider knowledge into the intricacies of play. If you prefer fiction to instructional materials, there’s also a wealth of fan fiction available about the world and characters of Minecraft. You can read stories about Notch or Steve and dive into the backstory of many other characters.
Minecraft is an excellent learning platform that engages kids to learn because of their love for the world of Minecraft. And of course, we love it, too – a healthy approach to gaming, learning opportunities, and loads of fun. It’s a great combination!
