US Department of Education Funds Teaching Computer Science…

Summary

US Dept. Of Education approves funding to teach coding and computer science to middle schoolers using Minecraft Education, benefiting underrepresented children.
Minecraft Education's game-based activities aim to improve academic achievement, attendance, and interest in school for students.
Minecraft Education has proven to be an effective tool for learning coding, computer science, and STEM disciplines, with various educational collaborations and projects available.

The US Department of Education has approved funding that will allow thousands of middle schoolers to learn computer science with Minecraft. Mojang’s extremely popular sandbox game has long been used for teaching purposes, and Minecraft Education was purposefully designed to be used in schools and even comes with free lesson plans and ideas for teachers.

Over the years, Minecraft has collaborated with other educational establishments to offer specialized content that focuses on a specific niche. In 2021, the education edition of Minecraft added lessons for International Women’s Day that taught about women’s suffrage and the work of British activist and suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, as well as Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize laureate who advocates for women’s education.

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Now, the US Department of Education, through its Education Innovation and Research program, has granted $4 million in funding to the national nonprofit organization Urban Arts. The goal of the grant is to teach coding and computer science to 3,450 underrepresented children in the 6th through 8th grades in New York and California. The Urban Arts program, called “Creative Coders: Middle School CS Pathways Through Game Design,” will use Minecraft Education to help students learn coding through game-based activities, which is expected to result in “academic achievement, improved attendance, [and] greater interest in school.” The program is a middle-school variant of a similar Urban Arts high school program that has already proven to be successful.

Creative Coders will serve Title I middle school students, approximately 70% of whom will be from families with an income below the federal poverty line. … Through a blended professional learning model, teachers are supported in teaching a middle school Intro to Computer Science course using a rigorous curriculum and evidence-based pedagogical approach.

The potential for Minecraft Education to be an effective tool for learning coding, computer science, and other STEM disciplines has been evident since it launched in beta in 2016. “Escape Estate” was another Minecraft project created by a group called Hours of Code that also used a game-based method to teach coding fundamentals. Players found themselves lost in a mansion, and they had to use coding to solve the escape room game’s various puzzles. Unlike Creative Coders by Urban Arts, the engaging learning experience created by Hours of Code was available to anyone with access to Minecraft Education.

Hours of Code also has another project available through Minecraft Education called “Generation AI,” whose aim is to teach both coding and responsible uses of AI. There are even cybersecurity lessons available through Minecraft Education, as well as a math game from Cambridge Mathematics called “M.A.T.H. Mummy Mayhem.”

Another example of the teaching potential of Mojang’s versatile game came in 2022, when Minecraft teamed up with BBC Earth to create a number of worlds that illustrated the biomes discussed in the show Frozen Planet 2. The project put learners in the role of a natural history film researcher whose task was to document the varied environments of the BBC documentary.

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Sandbox

Survival

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Systems

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OpenCritic Reviews: Top Critic Avg: 90 /100 Critics Rec: 84%

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Released: November 18, 2011
ESRB: E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Fantasy Violence
Developer(s): Mojang
Publisher(s): Mojang

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Minecraft is a game made up of blocks, creatures, and community. You can survive the night or build a work of art – the choice is all yours. But if the thought of exploring a vast new world all on your own feels overwhelming, then fear not!

Minecraft has no set goal and can be played however you’d like! This is why it’s sometimes called a “sandbox game” – there are lots of things for you to do, and lots of ways that you can play. If you like being creative, then you can use the blocks to build things from your imagination. If you’re feeling brave, you can explore the world and face daring challenges. Blocks can be broken, crafted, placed to reshape the landscape, or used to build fantastical creations.

Creatures can be battled or befriended, depending on how you play. The world of Minecraft allows for epic adventures, quiet meditations, and everything in between. You can even share your creations with other players, or play in community worlds!