In Defense of Minecraft
Monroe Middle School student Sam
Reposa wrote the following letter
with the help of classmates.
Minecraft is a survival/sandbox
computer game that has more
educational value than most people
think. Minecraft has many elements within
the game that can be very appealing to
teachers. Some of these include: science,
architecture, spatial mathematics, geography, art,
and circuitry. This essay will be covering how
Minecraft can be used in the classroom, and why
parents do not need to be worried about Minecraft
being inappropriate for their child.
Minecraft is a great way to build teamwork and
to build community. For example, if you have your
students all start on a new world and they all have
to survive for a certain amount of days, they would
have to decide who would gather the materials,
who would find shelter or build a shelter, and who
would gather food. This will teach them how to work
together. Maybe once students have survived for a
while, they can start creating their own civilization.
There are many places in the game that show
examples of physical science. For example, when you
are throwing an object, such as a snowball or an egg,
through water, it eventually slows down. Teachers
can use this to demonstrate fluid friction. You can do
the same thing with air friction by throwing an object
through air. The object would still slow down eventually
but the object goes farther because the object has
less friction in the air than the water. Newton’s laws of
gravity apply in many places in Minecraft.
A popular thing that many Minecrafters enjoy doing
is making scale models. A scale model can be of
anything: a statue, a building, or even a city! When
building scale models in the classroom, students
will have to count the blocks that they place to make
sure what they are building is to scale. They will also
need to use spatial mathematics to find out how to
fit everything into what they are building. If you are a
history or social studies teacher, you can have your
students build some national monuments, such as
the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, or
even the great pyramids of Egypt (I know that isn’t
a national monument but you get the idea) as class
projects.
Parents Report Better Engagement
A couple months into the class, a parent of one of my
Minecraft students asked for a conference, and I worried
that she would question the value of the class. Instead, she
was ecstatic. She said her son loved the class, and the experience was improving his attendance and interest in school.
In fact, every student in the class recorded better atten-
dance, Madathil said, adding:
One very unexpected positive outcome of offering
a Minecraft class was the increase in consistent at-
tendance for the students involved. Their attendance
history was sporadic, and while their capabilities
were great, their motivation to attend school regu-
larly lacked—until they began participating in the
Minecraft class. This class allowed students’ minds to
expand, create, and collaborate. Socially, students who
were less likely to participate in class discussions and/
or even advocate for themselves gained more confi-
dence that spilled out into their other classes and
interactions with peers and adults.
Parents also commented on the knowledge and skills
their children were learning. Ali Groberg, a parent of an
eighth grade student, was particularly thrilled:
When I first heard that a computer game class was be-
ing offered and my son was going to be a part of it, I
thought, ‘Oh, great, now I am going to have to buy lots
of game systems!’ Then as I learned more about the
class, I thought, ‘Interesting application, to reach chil-
dren through this one game for various levels of aca-
demia: math, history, language arts, strategy, logistics,
graphic design, agriculture, chemistry, alchemy are just
a few areas that can be enhanced by this one game. My
son thought ancient history was more interesting after
he was creating buildings and landscapes in Minecraft.
Not All Video Games Are Created Equal
The Minecraft class was successful for two reasons that
I believe can be applied to other video game content for
instruction. First, the basic game was something that students already knew well, and it generated a high level of
on-task behavior with little real-world supervision. Second,
the game could be adapted to align to core academic
standards and assessments.
It is now common for publishers to design video games
to teach content. At Monroe, teachers have used game
software to teach prevention education, physical science, social studies, and math. After all the hours of work
put into these attempts, none has generated the interest
among students as Minecraft has. I don’t think educational publishers will ever produce games with the cachet
