Is Minecraft Educational? Expert Advice

With built-in lesson plans, educational tools, and endless problem-solving opportunities, Minecraft: Education Edition can help motivate kids in coding, science, language arts, and more.

Prisma Staff
• 
November 1, 2022

Prisma is the world’s most engaging virtual school that combines a fun, real-world curriculum with powerful mentorship from experienced coaches and a supportive peer community

Minecraft and its deceptively simplistic, pixelated aesthetic seem to be everywhere. The video game isn’t just being played on every iPad and chromebook of every kid in the country, its blocky characters appear on lunch boxes and t-shirts, and in the form of plastic minifigures and youtube videos.

While screen time decisions are unique to every household, Minecraft enjoys a reputation among parents as being different from the average mindless and/or violent videogame that grownups love to hate.

“Oh, I let my kids play Minecraft... It’s educational.”

Music to any parent’s ears. But how is Minecraft educational, really? Let’s start with the basics.

Prisma

What is Minecraft?

Developed by the Swedish studio, Mojang, in 2009 and bought by Microsoft in 2014, Minecraft is known as a sandbox video game. That means there isn’t a specific objective that players work towards — like finding a treasure or defeating an evil boss.

Instead, its open-ended gameplay allows the user to choose their own adventure, making it an ideal tool for game-based learning: Players adventure through backdrops that mimic real world biomes, building structures on tundras, plains, desserts, oceans and taigas. As they encounter animals and creatures, they can craft tools out of the materials they find around them:  dirt, grass, iron ore, redstone, diamonds and more.

The game has different settings. In “survival mode,”  players work to keep themselves alive, by hunting, farming, and mining, under randomly generated weather conditions. To protect themselves against the violent mobs that roam at nightfall, they have to build a house and find a safe place to keep their supplies. In “creative mode,” instead, there’s no time pressure and no objective. Players can master their environment and build to their heart’s content.

Using Minecraft can help kids develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills: If you want to build an axe, you must gather the materials and learn the “recipe” to put it together, but from simple tools; the possibilities extend infinitely, to fully outfitted houses, elaborate villages and bustling cities. Often kids will try to build things they love in real life and create fantastical hybrids in the process — a music store that sells giant guitars, a house with an extra bedroom just for them, or the world’s tallest treehouse.

Because it’s so open-ended and diverse, kids with all sorts of interests can find something to get genuinely excited about inside Minecraft.

What is Minecraft: Education Edition?

One of the reasons for Minecraft’s extended popularity and longevity is that it’s endlessly customizable, both by Mojang and by independent programmers (kids included!) who create “mods” (modifications), programs you can add to the game itself that change how things look, react or behave. Of interest to parents and teachers is education mode (aka minecraftedu), a built-in mod that you can turn on while creating a world.

Currently, Education Edition has four specific differences compared to the regular Minecraft game.

1) Education-specific game features

Educational tools that allow players to turn the game into a learning environment, so they can write stories and create a portfolio to show off what they’ve accomplished.

2) Code Builder and the Agent

A feature to help kids learn to code in Java.

3) Chemistry

A lab at your fingertips, for conducting science experiments and even building elements and compounds.

4) Lesson plans

Educational activities in subjects such as Language Arts, Computer Science, Math, Art & Design and History, with corresponding worlds to let students play out what they’ve learned.

Three ways learners use Minecraft at Prisma

Because so many kids love Minecraft, it’s the kind of flexible tool that makes learning fun. If they’re excited about spending time in the game, they’ll be more willing to step out of their comfort zone and try something unfamiliar.

At Prisma, we integrate Minecraft into our curriculum, taking advantage of its 3d modeling capabilities, built-in coding tools, and collaborative features.

Here are three tested ways Minecraft can be used as an educational tool:

As a tool for 3D modeling

Minecraft’s extensive library of physical materials makes it an ideal modeling tool. In our Cities of the Future theme, learners researched and designed eco-friendly buildings and could use Minecraft to display their architectural model; or map out plans for a futuristic city with intentional ratios of residential, commercial, and industrial areas and then build it in Minecraft. They had to do the same research, documentation and labeling as kids who chose to use physical materials, and demonstrate the same core learning — but the option to use Minecraft gave some learners that extra push to go deep into their work.

Another part of the learning process is the creation of tutorials that introduce others to their world: learners create videos and slide decks that walk through the details of their model and explain how it connects to the content. In our Hidden Histories theme, kids created virtual museum exhibits and designed their own monuments, with relevant labels and plaques. Some kids modeled replicas of historical objects using Minecraft. One learner created a realistic model of a Revolutionary War ship. To document his learning, he developed a slide deck with screenshots of the ship's features, explaining the sources he used to make it historically accurate and the purpose of those features in the war.

As a tool for learning coding

Learners can hone their computer science skills by learning to code. In the Java edition of Minecraft, when kids build games or code mods, they are learning computational thinking through concepts like variables, conditionals, and functions. In the Bedrock edition of Minecraft, you can integrate the MakeCode tool, which allows kids to learn block-based, Java, and Python coding using the non-Java version of Minecraft. Prisma learners submitted games coded in Minecraft to the Games for Change competition.

As a tool for virtual socialization

Kids love to build virtual worlds where they can hang out with each other. At Prisma, learners in our Minecraft club built a multiplayer world known as Prismaland. They even constructed lounges for their coaches based on their interests and spaces related to each of the Prisma workshops. To develop Prismaland, the learners had to plan, collaborate, negotiate — and renegotiate when things didn’t go as planned — honing their teamwork as they each contributed a piece of their shared world, expressing their individual personalities in the community space.


How to get started with using Minecraft as an educational tool

Minecraft is extremely complex, and players can continue to hone their abilities for years. At the same time, its intuitive interface means that first time users rarely have to spend much time pouring over tutorials before they feel capable of building their first Minecraft world; usually one kid observes another until they’re ready to take over the controls themselves. If your child has gotten into the game ahead of you, ask them for a walk through of how Minecraft works: They’ll enjoy watching you stumble through your first steps and showing off what they know.

Once you get a handle of the game, look into which aspects are best suited to your child’s personality and needs. If Minecraft isn’t being used at your school, there are countless camps and clubs out there — or start your own!

Join our community of families all over the world doing school differently.

Want to learn more about how Prisma can empower your child to thrive?

Learn More

More from our blog

Meet Chioma Anyanwu

“Theatre became my safe haven for expressing emotions and embracing diverse perspectives, which deepened my sense of self and community. Now, as I work with learners at Primsa, I want them to experience that same freedom.”

Emily Veno Skolnick
• 
November 5, 2024

Meet Tara Ventura

“It's a firm belief of mine that every learner has valuable things to say. My hope is that learners step away from their feedback feeling positive about both what they have written and my response, and are feeling encouraged before writing some more!”

Emily Veno Skolnick
• 
October 29, 2024

Meet Michael Granado

“My favorite aspect of being a coach is the level of connection I'm able to make with learners. When I talk to my teacher friends, this usually sounds odd to them, because student connection is not something that is typically associated with online schools.”

Emily Veno Skolnick
• 
October 22, 2024

Meet Georgia Yiapanis

“It’s not about fitting into a mould, but about embracing what makes you, YOU. That self-trust fuels curiosity, innovation, and problem-solving.” Georgia Yiapanis is Prisma's first learning coach in our middle school cohort running in European/African time zones. 

Emily Veno Skolnick
• 
October 15, 2024

Meet Shaquita Basileo

“Every single one of us adults was smiling throughout Shaquita’s Expo Day. It was really special.” -Prisma Coach 

Emily Veno Skolnick
• 
October 8, 2024

Meet Emily Bannon

“Creating the most engaging and effective workshops for learners is all about collaboration. We start with a team-based skill, and a narrative that fits into the theme of the cycle. Then, I build that idea by discussing it with designers and coaches to craft a learning experience that is exciting for learners and designed for them.”

Emily Veno Skolnick
• 
September 24, 2024

Prisma Joins AGILE Learning Network

Comprised of education communities on the cutting edge of innovation, the AGILE Network works to accelerate the pace of education research and development. Prisma is honored to have been selected to join in the Network's first year.

Emily Veno Skolnick
• 
July 9, 2024

Prisma Learners Shine at Problem-Solving Olympiad

The NXTLVL Problem-Solving Olympiad is designed to test “Power Skills” such as creativity, strategic thinking, and collaborative problem solving. We’re proud of Prisma Powerhouse for showing an international audience how well our learners collaborate, think critically, and iterate! 

Emily Veno
• 
June 18, 2024

Montessori Online School

Prisma’s innovative virtual program is inspired by the Montessori method, and by other methods decades of research prove are the most effective and engaging ways to learn.

Emily Veno
• 
June 3, 2024

Homeschool Resistance? How to Keep Love of Learning Alive in the Upper Grades

Studies demonstrate widespread declines in enjoyment of school starting in 4th grade. What makes kids lose interest in school? And how can you bring that excitement back?

Emily Veno
• 
May 15, 2024