My son has done many Minecraft programming courses. He even did a Minecraft programming summer camp. If it wasn't with Minecraft, he wouldn't have done it. I think bringing Minecraft in to the schools to teach development is the right move. I wish all schools would embrace that. It would get the kids excited to learn... unlike... well... everything else besides gym, lunch, and recess.<p>From programming aspect, Minecraft makes perfect sense. From a math/geometry perspective, I'd have to see it to believe it. But one thing is for sure... the kids will line up to take that class.
Considering Chromebooks barely entered the market only about 4 years back.<p>"In 2015, Chromebooks topped 50 percent of personal computer sales in the U.S. K-12 education market for the first time, with Windows PCs trailing at 22 percent, according to a Futuresource Consulting report."<p>And looking at the chart in the report [1] is even stranger - Chromebooks have basically gone from 16% of yearly device sales to 50% of yearly device sales [2] in exactly two years. Does anyone else finds the numbers a little hard to believe? Don't the schools have any costs in migrating their systems to support Chromebooks?<p>[1] <a href="http://www.futuresource-consulting.com/2016-03-K-12-Education-Computer-Sales-8133.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.futuresource-consulting.com/2016-03-K-12-Educatio...</a><p>Edit:<p>Based on csharp's comment, changed wording from market to yearly device sales. [2] (For K-12)
Disclaimer: My day job is in edtech.<p>Minecraft has shown to be a good tool to teach students about different topics. During this years ISTE convention, I talked with a lot of teachers who used Minecraft as a teaching aide. To the point of using Minecraft graphics on their worksheets. I saw a math worksheet where instead of counting apples the student would count creeper heads. The teacher said the student engagement raised after using the Minecraft graphics. Ultimately it is a great tool. MS will find ways to make money off of that. But there is much worse software out there's being sold everyday to naive school boards. Software that does not help teachers engage students in the way Minecraft does. You will not believe how awful most edtech software is.
Has anyone here programmed minecraft? Can you report to the rest of us how the following compare as learning experiences:<p>1. Minecraft<p>2. Swift Playground<p>3. Commodore 64 or other old basic<p>4. Game Salad, or Game Maker,<p>5. Just learning Javascript in the browser<p>I know #2 is my favorite experience, but I think #5 is the most useful now. Just wondering if anyone has played around with minecraft to compare.<p>If I had to teach a kid:
#2 > #5 > #3 > can't speak for the others
If you're a developer looking to fight this, I'd suggest taking a look at Minetest, which started out as a fully libre open-source clone of Minecraft but has really grown into its own project in its own right.<p>The core engine is C++ and mods are programmed using Lua.<p><a href="http://www.minetest.net/#about" rel="nofollow">http://www.minetest.net/#about</a>
Weaponize? That's just wrong. Minecraft, retroactively dubbed Minecraft Java Edition, is totally cross platform. So, how does this new product help MS dominate education?<p>Answer: it doesn't. It's like arguing that Bröderbund (I hope I spelled that right) weaponized Zoombinis to take over the education market.
Games like this are the best way to teach programming. I first started by programming Counter Strike Source mods using EventScripts that let you write mods in Python. That changed my life.<p>Small 2D games are cool to look at and kind of fun, but nothing is better than taking a game you already love and scripting it. Far better than making a tortoise walk across the screen, it's more engrossing and rewarding and it becomes sort of a game in itself. You want to make your UZI shoot bananas? Figure out what that weird error is and you can.<p>Kudos to Microsoft.
Where is the research and what are the arguments that support Minecraft's educational utility? I haven't devoted a great deal of time to seeking them out, but so far I haven't found very convincing literature. Don't get me wrong, it seems like a great creative outlet, but why should a school prefer this over alternatives like music, art, or writing? I've seen a number of references to Minecraft's ability to simulate circuits and create logic gates, but how is this better than another logic board simulator or cheap electronics? For as many interesting lessons as Minecraft offers, the video game aspect of it necessitates a lot of "grinding" and virtual physical labor that doesn't seem particularly enriching. There is real intellectual meat buried within, but to this outsider it looks like "mostly entertainment" rather than "educational and entertaining".
As someone making an educational game to teach programming ( <a href="http://codemancergame.com" rel="nofollow">http://codemancergame.com</a> ) I say the more the merrier! A rising tide lifts all boats.
When Apple makes an iPad app to teach kids a programming language useful only in the Apple ecosystem, they're promoting STEM education.<p>When Microsoft leverages a massively popular game to promote STEM education, they're weaponizing.
It's interesting to see the term "weaponized" used with education -- I feel like we've (somewhat) done that for math with supermathworld.com. It's great to see education moving in this direction!
I don't think I'd have the job or career I have today if not for a fascination with tinkering with Doom mods back in high school. My daughter is obsessed with Minecraft and if Microsoft can "weaponize" that into something other than her watching incredibly annoying YouTube videos I'd be freaking thrilled.