The open ended sandbox environment is wonderful for creating a multitude of learning opportunities.

How I Use It

I teach video game design and development. Last year, I began to incorporate minecraft as one of our units. My goal was to develop a truly student driven project so the assignment is essentially, "Create a game within minecraft". Students create a game plan to pitch their game idea. I provide feedback generally in terms of asking questions for further clarification. Once the student and I are satisfied with the document and feel that the rules, mechanics, game idea, etc. are set, they can begin development on their game. For most projects I limit group size to avoid the issue of students not pulling their weight. For this project, I allow groups of any size. This has not been an issue and because they can all build and work simultaneously it really works great as a group project. I'm very excited about the project and the kids are even more excited than I am :)