TECH TOPIC – #3 Minecraft

I have recently discovered a new hobby which is gaming (OVERWATCH!) and I was so excited knowing that we are playing Minecraft in class. I have never thought a video game can be a learning tool. Many teachers and parents are strongly against their students/ children playing video games as they claim that gaming has a lot of negative influence, such as its addictiveness, violence expressions and cyberbullying. However, I think that if you educate children properly about these negative aspects of gaming and allow them to explore the what they can do about it, helps them discover the joy and learning opportunity in it without experiencing the negative effects. I’d never played Minecraft before but it wasn’t too difficult to manage. At first, I didn’t get the purpose of the game (digging and collecting mud blocks?) but after I found out more ways to collect and build stuff, it was FUN. It allows players to explore their creativity and as teachers can monitor behaviors in the game, it makes gaming in class under positive control. There are many themes that teachers can teach through Minecraft, for example, teaching about the life during the Medieval time by giving students roles, like bakers, blacksmiths, and landlords. Another example can be teaching social justice with a few of the students being very wealthy and powerful while the rest live in poverty and misery.