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Everything has evolved with technology. And if we notice the education system, it has changed drastically. From writing in books to mugging up things, the traditional methods have disappeared completely. We have digital education with experiential learning. Students learn what they want to, in the best way possible.
Moreover, new methods of making education easy and effective have been thought of every day. One such immensely powerful and interesting tool that emerged in 2020 is the Minecraft tool. Yes, we all know that the Minecraft game is loved by one and all, but when experimented with, it emerged out to be an excellent learning tool when the challenge was to educate students remotely.
Minecraft like other online tools has been a favorite among teachers and students for learning and teaching new concepts. Just like when online help on any academic subjects is needed, we have the best help ready at hand where just in a few clicks we can get our assignments solved. This is exactly what Minecraft does when it comes to the learning process.
Minecraft was used extensively by teachers to let children imagine, explore, and use their thinking skills. When confined in a room with no physical activity and limited resources, the human brain tends to get stagnant. So the educators had to give in immense thought to engage students and at the same time boost their creativity.
This is where Minecraft helps. When educators started exploring and using Minecraft for education, the Minecraft owners launched the Minecraft education software for free to be used in the pandemic phase.
Here are some ways in which Minecraft is being used as a tool in remote learning and its benefits.
Enhances creativity and problem-solving skills
Minecraft can be customized by the teachers according to their respective subjects. A little bit of coding makes Minecraft a curated tool for any learning process. The original Minecraft video game is also designed in such a way that it enhances creativity, problem-solving, social interaction, and much more. So when used and customized for educative purposes, Minecraft served the right way.
Minecraft is a also tool that can sharpen the thinking skills of students. They can use the available themes or create their world with the infinite tools available in the library. This helps students to think out of the box.
The themes they design can then be further used to explore the problem-solving areas in a particular subject. Thus when a student has to create something using his thinking skills, the educator can easily keep his interest in the subject and at the same time observe his grasp on the subject.
Consists of tools that are built for teachers
The Minecraft education system has tools like chalkboards and NPC (non-playable-character) which are built to enhance the teaching experience. A teacher can post chalkboards, posters on a particular theme and the NPC can be used as a tool to explain concepts to the students.
These tools provide both the teachers and the students the experience of in-classroom learning even in the remote learning era. Plus they have lots of in-built kits, games, lessons to help teachers keep the students’ interests.
From complicated math and chemistry lessons to super fun word learning in English, everything can be made interesting with this amazing tool. There are tutorials available to let you learn the right ways of using the tool.
Leveraging Minecraft education edition
When Minecraft is promoted as a learning tool, the education version of the software should be utilized. The game version will require customizations before you use it for educational purposes. Remember, Minecraft was built as a game.
It does sharpen thinking skills when a player has to build his own world/theme or save the existing one but at the same time, the players have to destroy each other’s world to score high. So the building theme is great but destroying the concept can be hazardous.
That is why Minecraft education is the best tool to be used in remote learning and teaching. The developers have taken in all the positive aspects of the game to build a powerful learning and teaching tool. Plus, an educator can code the game according to his teaching pattern and challenge students to test their skills.
The tool covers all the steps of the learning process
Explaining the concept, understanding it, and evaluating how much students have understood, is all done by the Minecraft tool. You have to design the initial components of the game suiting your subject and then the students can explore it by going through the rules.
For example, if aquatic life has to be studied, the aquarium can be designed by them. Then when all the students virtually take a tour of their aquarium, you can put in the fishes that are meant to be studied and observed.
Also, Read: How to Tame a Fox in Minecraft and Make a New Friend
Each student can learn about dolphins while looking at the dolphins swimming in their aquatic world. These little interactive things help the students go a long way in remembering the concepts. Thus, during the assessment, the teacher will have to just add the fish to the aquarium and the students can speak about it. So the two-way learning process is easily built by this educational tool.
To conclude,
If you are an educator you must try the Minecraft educator tool at least once. In these challenging times, everything should be accessed that comes in handy to provide the best education to the students.
Even if they are not physically available, their minds should be made to work and their creative innovation should not stop. Minecraft tool will provide the experience of working off-field but giving a real experience of the on-field.
The creators of Minecraft have done a great job in providing everything necessary for the learning process, now it is on the educators how they make the best use of these tools. Thanks to the pandemic, the learning process has become much empowering for the teachers and the students. Both are exploring new ways of teaching and learning!
