Learning while having fun is every child's dream. Similarly, engaging and motivating students effortlessly is the wish of any teacher. A conjunction that seems impossible becomes a reality if you turn to educational video games, something that happens if you turn to the popular construction game Minecraft. This video game that was launched in 2011 and that has garnered millions of players around the world has turned out to be an excellent educational tool if it is used correctly.
Everyone knows that children learn any concept better if they feel interested and motivated by the subject. In this sense, there is no greater motivation today than that which video games arouse in children and adolescents. Although the use of screens must always be limited and must be controlled by adults, the reality is that there are truly educational video games and you have to know how to take advantage of them as a training tool to carry out meaningful learning.
It is the case of the popular Minecraft, which not only drives young and old crazy, but also has practical applications when it comes to bringing the world of mathematics closer to children. Those who do not yet have it, can download minecraft here and begin to enjoy while knowing everything it has to offer for the learning of the little ones in the house.
Teaching areas and perimeters with Minecraft
It has always been said that: If you can not beat them, join them. This must have been thought by some teachers when they saw that their students paid more attention to the what's new in Minecraft that their math explanations. In this sense, instead of sitting idly by and continuing to waste their time and energy trying to teach bored students, they decided to turn the tables and use the popular video game to your advantage.
These teachers decided to see an ally in this video game to encourage student engagement. One of the curricular contents of Mathematics is the areas and perimeters, and some teachers have proposed to their students present your work on these concepts in Minecraft, even record yourself as youtubers to explain your exercise. Undoubtedly, the students, in addition to being surprised, were delighted with this proposal and their academic results improved remarkably.
Fractions
Some of the most common mistakes made in teaching is pretending that the same systems from 40 years ago continue to work today. Children and young people today have very different interests from those of their parents. Nevertheless, the educational field is barely evolving to adapt to this new reality and offer you content in a fun way.
In the case of fractions, teachers have found a new vein in Minecraft. One of the teachers' proposals to their students has been to ask them to create a construction in this famous and addictive video game in different materials. The exercise consisted in indicating what fraction of each material they had used.
The gamification of teaching to gain followers
The experiences related to the Minecraft application to teaching mathematics They aim to present a variety of effective strategies that can be carried out in class to attract students. Bringing concepts from the real world to the world of video games so that students can more easily acquire them is called gamification. In other words, it consists of applying game mechanics in non-playful environments and studies to improve motivation, effort and concentration, very positive values and appreciated in the educational field.
It is a powerful strategy that motivates students to improve themselves, obtaining better grades at the end of your apprenticeship. An especially useful resource for those children who tend to have more problems with the subject or those who find it more difficult to abstract when it comes to consolidating concepts.
Learning by playing, by trial and error, in an environment they know, such as Minecraft, exploring and experimenting, allows them a better development of your skills that, later, they can apply in other areas of their lives.
Wonder Quest, an educational series based on the popular game Minecraft
And not just math, such is the minecraft potential when teaching to the students different subjects that Adam Clarke and Johan Kruger created the Wonder Quest series, produced by Disney, in which they use the Minecraft game as a tool to apply it to learning science, technology and the arts. Stampy Cat and Wizard Keen are the two main characters in this series and they live multiple adventures while the children, without even realizing it, learn while having fun.
Thanks to their series, Clarke and Kruger have demonstrated the enormous educational potential of an internationally successful video game, with more than 100 million users worldwide. The main objective of the series is to teach not only in the curriculum, but also in values, and to be fun at the same time, dealing with topics of special importance, such as, for example, the dangers of climate change.