Author Danica Davidson Discusses Minecraft’s Astonishing Educational Potential

Minecraft is a game that’s known for its broad potential, including the potential to use it for game-based learning and creativity. As a writer, I’ve discovered Minecraft’s potential for storytelling and literacy.
I’m the author of Overworld Adventures, a series of books for Minecrafters aimed for ages seven through twelve, which stars eleven-year-old Stevie, a boy from Minecraft, and his friend Maison, a girl from Earth. They deal with everything from bullying to school problems to a zombie takeover—because Minecraft lets you cover all that and more. The third book in the series, The Rise of Herobrine, was recently released, and the fourth book, Down into the Nether, hits bookstores June 21st. By fall, all six books in my series will be available. I’m touched by the notes I get from parents telling me their kids “who never read” suddenly “couldn’t put these books down.” I want the books to have thrilling adventure, but also have character growth and themes like friendship.
But Minecraft’s educational potential goes far beyond literacy.
“When teachers bring Minecraft into the classroom, they find that the students are incredibly engaged throughout the lesson,” said Deirdre Quarnstrom, Director of Minecraft Education at Microsoft. “They’re self-motivated and curious and Minecraft allows that because it’s an open world game. When players open the inventory, their whole mind expands on what’s possible with assignments like building human anatomy or a Medieval civilization.”
Steve Isaacs and Shane Asselstine are two teachers loving the use of Minecraft in the classroom.
“Minecraft was first brought to my attention by some students that were very interested in using it,” Asselstine said. “My teaching with Minecraft has evolved over the past four years. It began with some simple math lessons, such as division and multiplication, that substituted the traditional ways with more hands-on activities in the three dimensional collaborative world. Nowadays, we have evolved into more project-based learning that has students applying skills from across the content areas. Students will manage an industry, design a zoo, create stories you can walk through, or even run scientific experiments on the physics within Minecraft.”
“The first thing that I quickly grew to appreciate about Minecraft is that any number of developers can work on the same game at the same time,” Isaacs said. “Often this would cause some degree of diffusion of responsibility, but not with Minecraft. From my experience, every team member stays focused and motivated to work on the game. The development process is interesting to watch as specializations begin to surface organically. Kids come to the game with different interests and different skills.  Some kids are amazing builders, with fine attention to detail and aesthetics. Others are inclined to manage the larger project, while others dig into the potential for the game mechanics and ‘programming’.”

He continued, “When I say programming, I am speaking of the amazing built-in tools in the game, including redstone, which allows players to automate functions in the game by completing electric circuits.  On the surface that sounds fairly simple as one might imagine turning on and off lights, but the complexity that one can employ with redstone is remarkable. Furthermore, it often demonstrates the persistence kids have when they know what they want to accomplish and know it can be done.”
Quarnstrom, Isaacs and Asselstine all talked about the level of involvement they receive from students when Minecraft is in the classroom. “I have students that never raise a hand becoming vocal leaders,” Asselstine said. “I see changes in self-esteem when a student that previously was seen as ‘just a gamer’ now has knowledge that can benefit the group. I have seen students become teachers, helping those around them to achieve more. Most importantly, I see 240 students each week that come to class excited to learn and eager to take on the next challenge.”
As someone who always has her nose in a book, I want my books to bring a joy of reading to children. Likewise, Quarnstrom, Isaacs and Asselstine see the promise of Minecraft in schools. In fact, as Quarnstrom explains, “We’ll be releasing an edition of Minecraft that’s specifically focused on education. It’s the same Minecraft game our players know and love, and we’ve added some features that would be helpful in a classroom setting.” This new edition is available now.
Quarnstrom also spoke about a conversation she had with Mojang, the company that created Minecraft. “[They said], “We believe we can change the world. [Kids] are learning about rules and consequences and working together. We think the next generation of world leaders are playing Minecraft.”
Davidson’s previous guest post for the B&N Kids’ Blog can be found here.