[0:03]This photo, taken by photographer Gisbert Van der Wall in 2014, went viral at the time and was shared almost 10,000 times within a few days after it was first posted on Facebook. People were quick to repost and comment with captions such as, what a sad picture of today's society, or today's youth is more interested in WhatsApp than they are in Rembrandt.
[0:30]Now, if I was to share this photo online, I would probably receive similar reactions. At a first glance, we might look as students playing on their iPad, this actually students completely immersed and focused on the task at hand, given to them by their teacher and exploring the subject curriculum in effective and innovative ways. Using a little video game that you might have heard of called Minecraft. What both of these photos are missing is context. And context is key when we have children using technology for educational purposes. Those students at the museum, they were in fact accessing the museum's virtual tour app, which simply gave them enhanced content and information regarding the artworks they could see around them. Now, I have been a gamer for as long as I can remember, and a teacher for the most part of my adult life. And it has been my lifelong dream and mission to put passion and profession together and introduce video games in a classroom as a learning tool, as well as help others see the benefits and embrace digital game-based learning, whether a game themselves or not. So, let us build context together before we jump to conclusions. First, a little bit about Minecraft. Minecraft, it's a couple of things. It's a video game. It is also an international cultural phenomenon. Legendary game designer Peter Molino in a 2012 documentary about Minecraft couldn't have said it better. Think of Minecraft as digital LEGO. And just as LEGO bricks can be assembled in infinite ways and manners, players in Minecraft can do the same by controlling their character inside a virtual world, placing and removing digital blocks. Minecraft is currently the second best-selling video game of all time with more than 100 million copies sold worldwide. Topped only by none other than Tetris. A win for the 80s generation gamers right there. Collectively, more than a billion hours have been played in over 66 countries and it has even spawned an educational version exclusive for school use some two years after Microsoft acquired the game back in 2014 for 2.5 billion dollars. But the real beauty of Minecraft lies in the fact that just as with LEGO, there is no definitive goal inside the game. And players are free to create whatever they want, either on their own or with other players with the only limitation being their own imagination. Minecraft also allows players to play safely with natural elements such as water, fire, Earth, trees, and even chemical compounds. And compared to Lego bricks, you do not run the risk of accidentally stepping on one while barefoot. And I know that we've all been there. So, in a sense, Minecraft is this generation's Tetris, a game that for most of us brings back fond memories. And I find myself thinking, did those countless hours I invested as a child playing Tetris help me today with organizing my thoughts and projects better or at the very least help me organize my suitcase? Or is it possible that playing Mario has taught me to focus on my objectives, always aim higher and never give up, even though the princess is always in another castle? Well, yes, I'd like to think so. I also believe that a decade from now, my students will credit some of their soft skills to the adventures we had together in Minecraft and remember our time with the game fondly as well. Skills such as communication, collaboration, empathy, creativity, and problem-solving, to name a few, developed across the whole spectrum of curricular subjects and projects. The skills and benefits that digital games can improve and promote in an educational environment have been the target of a number of studies in the past years. One study in particular from 2016 highlighted many educational benefits from the use of Minecraft in a classroom setting with a number of advantages identified. A positive learning environment, peer support and help in overcoming obstacles during gameplay, increased determination when met with challenges, and an improved ability to produce high quality work, were just some of the effects observed. What I have personally observed during my time with the game is that those same effects can be found on both students and teachers, making classes a two-way communication experience in which everyone is learning with and through each other. When I introduced Minecraft at my school, four years ago, as an afternoon club activity, I already knew the basics around the game, but I didn't know how to play that well. Compared to my students, I was the beginner and they the expert, yet I was willing to learn with them while providing them with a safe and fun place to explore the game. My purpose was not to turn these students into gamers, but to turn these gamers into students. I was willing to go the extra mile, motivated and driven by passion. What could possibly go wrong? Well, apparently, everything. Only a couple of minutes into our first lesson and everyone eventually went on an epic rampage of biblical proportions. Children can be as creative as they can be destructive if left unchecked, as any parent in this room can confirm. Now, this first experience, this first attempt, however unpleasant or unexpected it might have been at the time, it did help me realize that for this to work, I will have to change my attitude and adopt a different mindset. Instead of constantly trying to be the center of the class, I will have to become a resource for my student, build trust between them and themselves, and allow for collaborative space to grow. My students, including myself, have come a long way since that first cathartic experience four years ago. One of our most recent projects, done in collaboration with the history teacher, had the students recreate the ancient Roman era city of Lisbon using Minecraft Education Edition. The project was based on a historically accurate documentary that the students used in order to build the ancient city on a one to one scale. When the project was completed, it was shared through the Minecraft Education website, both as a project and a lesson plan and a game file so that other teachers and students from around the world could access and explore this unique project. But of course, like any technology, simply allowing students to access Minecraft will not automatically engage them in purposeful learning. Furthermore, it is natural and understandable that bringing gaming to the classroom might not be for everyone. However, there's never been a better time to embrace this change and interact with students through a language they're most comfortable with. And that is because Minecraft has paid the way for quality learning opportunities that students identify with. So let us extend our reach and reflect beyond the classroom. Let us rethink our approaches, methods and strategies and work towards inclusive, supportive, and above all, play for environments that include everyone involved in the education of children from teachers, to parents, to policy makers. And for that, here are three transformative ideas that we could introduce and integrate into education with the help of a game like Minecraft. One, it is okay for children to know more than us. There is immense power in practicing humility and trust by allowing children to teach us how to play. This puts them in a mentoring position, which helps build healthy relationships and can have a profound impact on them because they feel that we genuinely care about their work. On the other hand, we are more willing to take more risks when we know that they can support us in exploring the platform. Two, take a step back and let go. Loosen up control and allow children to take charge of their own learning. However, we need to make sure that we help them recognize it when deep and meaningful learning takes place in game by communicating, visualizing, and sharing strategies along with reasoning. Naturally, there will always be certain anxiety associated with letting go and stepping out of our comfort zone, yet it is in these ludic moments that genuine learning takes place. Three, never stop inspiring. Children need to be guided, but more so to be inspired and by inspiring, we are able to reach out to each one of them in a deeply personalized way. Given that Minecraft is a totally open-ended sandbox space where different players with different needs can have different experiences, it comes down to inspiration to bring all this together and elevate interest, wonder and curiosity into their hearts. And most importantly, play and learn together. Because it is through play that we humans start again at a very young age, try to make sense of the world around us. With Minecraft, however, we get to build the world itself through play, and that is extraordinary.
