Microsoft Sending Minecraft To Summer School

Reader theodp writes: Four months after its one hour Minecraft "infomercial" ran in schools around the world as part of the Hour of Code, Microsoft announced the release of Minecraft: Education Edition. From the announcement: "Minecraft: Education Edition early access will be available in 11 languages and 41 countries. During the summer months, we are also going to be focused on working with educators on building out lesson plans, sharing learning activity ideas, and creating re-usable projects." Microsoft bought Minecraft for $2.5 billion back in 2014. "What many may not realize," said Microsoft last November as it announced a Minecraft-themed tutorial that it would inspire students to learn computer science skills, and "that Minecraft has the power to transform learning on a global scale. By creating a virtual world and then advancing in it, students can learn digital citizenship, empathy, social skills and even improve their literacy "while getting real-time feedback on their problem-solving skills from the teacher." At the time, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told teachers that Minecraft is key to getting girls involved in computer science. So is Minecraft really all that?

Comments

First....

[johnsmithperson123]

You may only play Minecraft after installing Gentoo, configuring it, using the NVIDIA proprietary drivers and configuring dual monitors, then installing Minecraft, I said. After that, the kid didn't want to play Minecraft any more, he was too interested in the software. -A (mostly) true story

Re:First....

[shaitand]

You shouldn't be trying to discourage a kid from playing minecraft. Minecraft is a giant creative sandbox with extremely sophisticated logical circuitry.

You'd be amazed at what people build. Everything from simple circuits to automatically open doors and exploiting the game physics to have signals degrade at a fix rate to introduce intentional calibrated delays to full blown Apple 2 recreations and oscilloscopes. There are programmable elements now introducing programming or you can do it more hardware style with redstone circuitry or some combination of the two. Instead of splitting apart the creative and those who are better at math the two are tightly integrated as you use electronics (redstone), programming, to build elements that automate, compliment, and directly enhance your creative designs.

You might build your multi-building castle compound and build sophisticated circuitry to enable the lights to detect day/night and light the entire compound at night. You'll likely use plumbing on modern minecraft servers, even using series of tubes and control circuits so you can drop random stuff you've mined and collected in chests at various places and have it automatically sorted and stored into underground organized values for that purpose, then you'll build out chests, dispensers, and other storage objects at useful locations and have their contents auto-filled from these vaults. Even automatically filter known trash items and drop them on lava to destroy them.

Re:Minecraft really is all that

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> into a game where dicks cannot rain from the sky

For what it's worth, in Minecraft "slime-powered" dicks can be built to move slowly across the sky, travelling horizontally.

An even better idea

[Marginal Coward]

Here's an even better idea: why not start kids as early as possible on this idea of making complex objects out of simple components? For example, I could create a system of interchangeable plastic blocks that very small children could put together, either free-form, using their own imaginations, or in specially designed kits that are intended to be assembled (with instructions) into an exciting macro-toy. Even better, after they get tired of the macro toy, they could tear it down and go free-form with the pieces!

I could envision such plastic blocks becoming popular world-wide, and could see them making their way into homes, daycare centers, preschools, and even elementary schools. Heck, I might even play with those myself. Imagine the educational possibilities for kids of all ages!

If my idea succeeds, I wonder how many billions Microsoft would pay me for it?

Re:An even better idea

[chispito]

For example, I could create a system of interchangeable plastic blocks that very small children could put together, either free-form, using their own imaginations, or in specially designed kits that are intended to be assembled (with instructions) into an exciting macro-toy...

Yeah but I never stepped on a Minecraft block barefoot in the middle of the night.

In my experience with my son...

[garcia]

So is Minecraft really all that?

I was always into computers, writing programs in BASIC on my Commodore Vic20 when I was barely old enough to read/write. When my son showed little to no interest in computers, I was disappointed but supportive in endeavors he did seem to enjoy which had corollaries to my obsession w/computers such as lego, puzzles, engineering, science, etc.

When he expressed interest in Minecraft, I was admittedly skeptical as I see most kids just playing it as a game. However, my son uses it like computer Legos, building shit over and over again and exploring the virtual world of a 6 year old.

Starting with this, I hope he continues to learn about items which interest him through his directly manipulatable world just like I did through my own when I was his age. While like any tool may not be the best for every child to learn, it has begun to pay off and allow him to grow and develop educationally w/o him wanting to play it only as a mindless game.

So no, it's not "all that" but it's certainly better than him watching TV or only playing games on a tablet or game system.

Factorio

[malditaenvidia]

There should be a factorio: education edition. It would certainly teach kids more about logic and processes than good ole minecraft, also it's more fun.