Minetest in Schools

After watching Jane McGonigal's TED talk, I have come to the decision that a game that I like to play, and that I think will benefit my students is Minecraft. Minecraft is sadly not an open source game, but there is a game called Minetest which is pretty much the same exact game as Minecraft except that it is open source. The article that I provide for this blog talks about the ways Minecraft can be used in the classroom. But, since Minetest is very similar to Minecraft, I believe that the article still applies. Minetest, just like minecraft, is considered a “sandbox game” where gamers can obtain their own objects and create whatever they want with them. A lot of gamers will just create their own town or city. 

 As previously stated, while I was watching Jane McGonigal’s TED talk, all I could think about was Minecraft. I was especially thinking this when Jane was talking about the four characteristics that make gamers Super Empowered Hopeful Individuals. The first characteristic that Jane talks about is “Urgent Optimism”, which is being able to act immediately and work to have a reasonable hope for success. I believe this applies to Minetest, even though there is no winning or losing in Minetest, children that play the game want to create something that is great. The next characteristic that was discussed is “Social Fabric”, which is being able to collaborate with others and create relationships. I believe that this characteristic totally applies to Minetest. While playing the game, gamers can play and collaborate together to obtain and create whatever they want. The third characteristic is “Blissful Productivity”. I would say that Minetest is extremely productive, gamers get to build their critical thinking skills by managing their resources to see what they need to build a structure and how they will build the structure. The final characteristic is the epic meaning of a game. Gamers can play Minetest for hours because the structures they are building takes a lot of time. So, gamers will feel accomplished when they have created a structure that took a lot of time and effort. 

 After hearing what Jane thinks it takes to be a Super Empowered Hopeful individual, and seeing how Minetest is a game that can help a gamer achieve those characteristics, Shouldn’t we encourage students to play Minetest? Andrew Miller gives suggestions on how Minetest can be used in the school. Miller first discusses how Minecraft can be used for history. Both Minecraft and Minetest allow gamers to type in a code so that they can visit a world that was created by somebody else. A lot of gamers will create a landmark or famous building that teachers can have their students look through and explore after learning about it (Miller, 2012). Miller also discusses how games like Minecraft and Minetest can be used as a writing tool. Teachers can encourage students to create characters, locations and choices while playing the game. After doing this, the teacher can encourage the student to write about what they did in the game and what they have created (Miller, 2013). Having the students play and write about a game they like encourages them to improve their writing skills. Games like Minetest can be a valuable resource for students because it allows them to critically think, collaborate, and have fun. 

 Reference: Miller, A. (2016, October 24). Ideas for using Minecraft in the classroom. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/minecraft-in-classroom-andrew-miller