In the last few years, one game in particular has dominated the industry in a way never seen before, drawing players into worlds of their own design for literally hours on end. Minecraft has sold millions of copies and its success shows no sign of slowing down, but for those of you who are worried about fans spending hours watching Youtube videos of others playing the game, research has demonstrated that the educational benefits of Minecraft are almost limitless in scope. Skills such as reading, writing and basic math are essential to navigating the world of Minecraft successfully, but did you know that the game also provides opportunities to explore geometry, technology and even music in spontaneous, player initiated ways? That's not all though. The open-ended nature of Minecraft allows players to interpret the software for their own means, limited only by their imagination. In September 2012, the developer Mojang worked alongside UN Habitat to kick start the 'Block By Block Project', which encourages impoverished communities of young people to modify and reconstruct their neighborhoods using environments they've created inside the game as inspiration. As if that wasn't impressive enough, the British Museum recently announced they would recreate all of their exhibits in a simulated version of the building for members of the general public to explore. Time Magazine reports that one teacher in New York City has even created his own version of the game which drops students into recreations of ancient civilizations to learn more about history. The possibilities of using video games in education are literally endless and this area will certainly develop more in the coming years. Next time someone says video games are bad for you, share this article with them and then smile smugly to yourself as they reel in shock... or just educate others for the hell of it. Is excessive video game playing beneficial or harmful to players? Join in on the debate using the comments section below.
David is a primary school teacher who tries his best to turn every math lesson into a discussion on the latest Pixar film. Passions include superheroes, zombies and Studio Ghibli. In between going to the cinema, moving to South Korea and eating his body weight in KFC, David writes for a number of movie sites, http://becarefulyourhand.blogspot.co.uk/
