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Swedish School Makes Minecraft Lessons Compulsory
SchrodingerZ writes "The Viktor Rydberg school in Stockholm, Sweden, has announced that they have included Minecraft into the curriculum for their 13-year-old students. The program is not meant to teach children about math or language, but rather as a tool to inspire creativity in the classroom. 'They learn about city planning, environmental issues, getting things done, and even how to plan for the future,' Viktor Rydberg teacher Monica Ekman told English-language newspaper The Local. 'It's not any different from arts or woodcraft,' she added."
''They learn about city planning, environmental issues, getting things done, and even how to plan for the future,"
My son must have somehow gone to that school without telling me. He keeps talking about Creepers being a key natural resource.
Or you could do what my 3rd grade teacher did and let a bunch of kids play with Legos.
they've made Starcraft mandatory learning.
I think we'll have fewer misanthropic troglodytes around if they did all get to play Quake. But more importantly, we understand the silliness of rage and appropriate handling of frustration. I.E. Fragging bots is quite a lot more temporary than human beings. It certainly was a huge stress relief to play Quake III Arena back in high school (this is during the second wave video game scare after Columbine).
If computers were people, I'd be a misanthrope.
Simcity does city planning, environmental issues, getting things done, and even how to plan for the future. Better.
No doubt minecraft, the game, is interesting
But I still curious to know if there are other better software out there that can encourage students to think creatively.
Anyone that has any example, care to share?
Thanks !
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
It also doesn't have cooperative multiplayer, it's a very limited environment that doesn't encourage creativity, it's four times more expensive than Minecraft, and it requires Origin DRM.
Simcity does city planning, environmental issues, getting things done, and even how to plan for the future. Better.
... And Godzilla.
- Nec Impar Pluribus, or so I'm told.
I think this is wonderful. I'm very disheartened by the direction of the educational system in the United States. It seems that we have become a nation obsessed with standardized testing due to the No Child Left Behind Legislation (NCLB). At least at our school, all we care about is doing well on the state test because our school is graded and penalized based on the scores. It is very sad as art programs, Tech Ed, and project based learning is out the door because we have to drill and kill our kids so we can improve on the state test. It's not the teachers' or the administrators' fault. It's the laws that have been put in place by clueless Legislators. It's very sad that creativity has been trumped by root memorization, thoughtless learning!
Simcity does city planning, environmental issues, getting things done, and even how to plan for the future. Better.
I don't think they're really on the same scale. In Simcity, you play the planner/mayor/whatever-high-up that determines macro issues. We should build houses here, power plants should be there. I don't care what you think, I'm God.
In Minecraft you play an individual. You determine what you use, where you build, how you build, all micro issues centered around yourself. You have no in-game control over your fellow players. You have to resort to actually negotiating and talking about things if you want to affect the macro situation.
I most definitely agree that Simcity could be used for teaching. However, depending on what it is you're actually trying to teach, I would not call it "better."
What makes you think anyone is talking about the upcoming version? In terms of what the apparent lessons are supposed to teach could easily be taught using Sim City 2000, 3000, or 4. Why would you need cooperative multiplayer for this curricular? None of the actual goals seem to need it and the article doesn't even hint at Minecraft being played on a server.
There is no feedback from Minecraft regarding any of these topics, where as any Sim City will inform you of results caused by your (good/poor) planning, sims will complaint about environmental conditions and even get mad when you start chopping down woodlands, etc.
Minecraft can inspire creativity the same way Lego can, but for their narrowed down subject matter it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Doesn't seem to go well together.
But are they just playing it, or will they be building maps or what? If we're just promoting the next Oregon Trail for the newer generation, it'll largely be a waste of time.
It also isn't foreign since Notch is Swedish.
Considering Notch is Swedish, and Mojang is based in Stockholm, it's a local game for this school.
And we all know, the best way to foster creativity is...
all Swedish software will be Minecraft compatible
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cooperative multiplayer is in simcity 2000 network edition
When they're looking at buying their first house, they'll just buy an empty lot with a bunch of trees and then start punching them...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
...the creeper blew up my homework!
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
DF teaches you that the people need alcohol. ;)
If you want to teach the children to build 3d objects
Not the goal. Post is moot. And they're 13. Some kids that age might actually be able to get into Blender, most of them won't.
If sparking interest in computers and digital arts is the reason they chose MC
Not the goal.
They may not directly stimulate the creative side of the brain
But that's the goal. Try at least reading the summary if you insist on avoiding the actual article.
Wanker.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.