Today’s class was an optional class in which a few of us had a chance to discuss topics we were curious about which for the group today was Minecraft edu! We explored the Minecraft education website and walked through a bit of one of the preset tutorials set up for educators. As someone who has never been much of a gamer of any kind this world was very new to me, and certainly opened up my eyes to another modality in which I could use to engage students with the material.  There are a lot of preset lessons for a variety of subjects. I can certainly see kids enjoying learning this way but I think that it might be more fitting at a middle school level rather than high school. That being said it might depend on your specific class, as some classes might be more enthused by minecraft than others!

I took the opportunity after class to explore some of the science lessons, and was blown away by the possibilities already existing with the education portal! This is just a snapshot of some of the lessons already on there:

Beyond the preloaded lessons, minecraft might also be a way for students to build their own worlds as explanations of certain science topics. It might be a neat tool for students to use within an inquiry project as well! All in all, minecraft edu presents a lot of opportunity and opened up my eyes to the potential for gaming to be used in education. I love the idea of diversifying the way in which students can learn and demonstrate their own learning, and I am curious to learn about some more gaming education applications!