The Digital Crack That Is Minecraft!
Growing up, I was always a fan of video games- games that allow you to drive, to kill bad guys, to jump and explore! Minecraft (MC) is nothing like those games that favor fine motor skills and quick reaction times. It's more like SimCity with treasure hunts and lost-in-the-jungle adventures of infinite possibilities. It doesn't appeal to me but it is like digital crack to my middle-school aged nephews!
It’s no surprise, then, that my brother curses the creation of MC. As an LTEC'er, I can appreciate MC's potential for encouraging children to get creative, explore, and think critically about what it takes to build new communities. But my brother (actually more my sister in law) is always shrieking at the kids and issuing ridiculous threats. Shut it down. It’s dinnertime. Do I have to unplug this from the wall? Want spiders, huh? How 'bout I leave you outside tonight to find the real ones on the back porch!”)
I think MC has many hallmarks of a good learning environment: child-initiated projects, engagement, challenging tasks that push kids to persist and reach higher goals, excitement over what has been learned or discovered, tools for writing, and multiple modes of play that enable kids (and adults) to mold the game to their liking. If you want to play by yourself in “creative” mode, it's a great building experience. Or I've seen my nephews play on the multiplayer server where they add more monsters and turn the game into a swashbuckling adventure. They have even showed me “mods” created by fans and game developers to trigger more zombies or creepers to appear.
Every time I go over to their house, my nephews beg me to look at all the new buildings they’ve created. “I like Minecraft better than my homework,” they have told me more than once or “Maybe my homework could be on Minecraft?" This has prompted me to reexamine my own predisposition for not particularly liking MC.
As a classroom teacher, I think that MC just wasn’t designed to fit with school life, at least not under the blocked-time, subject-specific schedules that define most classrooms today. In fact, MC probably wasn’t built as a learning tool for kids at all. Now families with Minecraft-obsessed children have to come up with new ways to deal with it in their daily lives. Some (like my brother) have banned Minecraft on school days. Others have put time limits on its use each day. I know when I have "played" MC, I’m alarmed at how the minutes can turn into hours. If even adults can get lost in time, how much more likely are kids to get lost in hours long MC sessions. I think it is important for them to Find a balance between the real and the virtual worlds in their daily lives!
I’m curious to know whether Minecraft and other immersive games will eventually change the culture of our fixed-mindset, struggling elementary schools. I think that would be great but I'm not holding my breath!
It’s no surprise, then, that my brother curses the creation of MC. As an LTEC'er, I can appreciate MC's potential for encouraging children to get creative, explore, and think critically about what it takes to build new communities. But my brother (actually more my sister in law) is always shrieking at the kids and issuing ridiculous threats. Shut it down. It’s dinnertime. Do I have to unplug this from the wall? Want spiders, huh? How 'bout I leave you outside tonight to find the real ones on the back porch!”)
I think MC has many hallmarks of a good learning environment: child-initiated projects, engagement, challenging tasks that push kids to persist and reach higher goals, excitement over what has been learned or discovered, tools for writing, and multiple modes of play that enable kids (and adults) to mold the game to their liking. If you want to play by yourself in “creative” mode, it's a great building experience. Or I've seen my nephews play on the multiplayer server where they add more monsters and turn the game into a swashbuckling adventure. They have even showed me “mods” created by fans and game developers to trigger more zombies or creepers to appear.
Every time I go over to their house, my nephews beg me to look at all the new buildings they’ve created. “I like Minecraft better than my homework,” they have told me more than once or “Maybe my homework could be on Minecraft?" This has prompted me to reexamine my own predisposition for not particularly liking MC.
As a classroom teacher, I think that MC just wasn’t designed to fit with school life, at least not under the blocked-time, subject-specific schedules that define most classrooms today. In fact, MC probably wasn’t built as a learning tool for kids at all. Now families with Minecraft-obsessed children have to come up with new ways to deal with it in their daily lives. Some (like my brother) have banned Minecraft on school days. Others have put time limits on its use each day. I know when I have "played" MC, I’m alarmed at how the minutes can turn into hours. If even adults can get lost in time, how much more likely are kids to get lost in hours long MC sessions. I think it is important for them to Find a balance between the real and the virtual worlds in their daily lives!
I’m curious to know whether Minecraft and other immersive games will eventually change the culture of our fixed-mindset, struggling elementary schools. I think that would be great but I'm not holding my breath!
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