Technology is undoubtedly an integral part of the world around us, more so with every passing Apple product. Yet despite the massive role it plays in our lives, one area it seems to never fully overshadow is the classroom. Oh sure, we can use technology such as Smart Boards and videos on a projector screen, but when it comes to students having full control over such technology, it is strictly “lids down and phones away” in all levels of education. But what if we began to use the “distraction” of technology, often considered evil in the classroom, for good, even as an enhancer of our educational experience? Such is the case in the schools presented in the New York Times article “Disruptions: Minecraft, an Obsession and an Educational Tool” by Nick Bilton. Teachers across the world, from Switzerland to California, have recently united in a pursuit to use the video game Minecraft to capture the attention of students and teach them a wide range of topics including physics, history, ethical behavior, future planning, problem solving, environmental issues… even an assistance in language learning! History teachers, for example, have used presets of the game (called “mods”) to take their students on a virtual tour of cities such as Rome (shown below).

So why Minecraft? Empirical evidence within the article states that video games in general are already proven to “raise cognitive learning for students by as much as 12 percent and improve hand-eye coordination, problem-solving ability and memory.” But Minecraft takes these skills deeper and incorporates more areas of learning in that it has very few, if any rules. Players use “16-bit” character “skins,” which Bilton simplifies by comparing them to Legos that look something like this:

Though the digital graphics are far from superb, the limitlessness of the game makes this fact irrelevant. You basically plan and produce your own universe, using problem solving to create building tools from the environment around you. In certain modes you can create something as complex as the ancient Roman city pictured above. In other words, Minecraft can be suited to any curriculum, because its objective is to do whatever you want in whatever type of world you choose to create.

Furthermore, this distraction-turned-educational tool can teach younger children how to correctly function and behave in the unavoidable world of the web, specifically social media sites. Minecraft’s multiplayer option allows conversation between students and collaboration in building. One source Bilton quoted, the cofounder of a company that teaches teachers how to use Minecraft with students, said “Kids are getting into middle school and high school and having some ugly experiences on Facebook and other social networks without an understanding of how to interact with people online.” You could say that this lesson has nothing to do with schooling, but isn’t an education’s function to equip us with skills to adapt in the real world? Well, today’s modern earth has now been split into two respective realities: the real world and the virtual world of social media, both with different sets of rules and norms.  It is crucial that children learn how to use social media correctly so that it can serve its original beneficial purpose. Additionally, managing social media has become a crucial skill for many professional positions!

What better way for teachers and professors to take a stab at the technology that has hindered them from reaching the minds of their students for so long, than to mold it to their own purposes? This would be defeating the arch nemesis of the teacher, while simultaneously defeating a students’ arch-nemesis of boredom and inability to relate to subject matter presented in the classroom. I always get excited if we watch a movie in class, even if it is one I would not have watched on my own, because of the simple fact that technology is stimulating! Minecraft, differing from a movie in that it is interactive, takes that excitement to another level, as it does the learning experience. Students would be better able to learn and reinforce a concept by putting it into application in Minecraft. It is one thing to read about gravity in a textbook, and another to see it in action. I believe that the latter is what makes the former truly stick in a students mind. The device that once isolated students from their instructors can now bring them together in a mutually satisfying learning experience.

Bilton, Nicholas. “Disruptions: Minecraft, an Obsession and an Educational Tool.” Bits Disruptions Minecraft an Obsession and an Educational Tool Comments. New York Times, 15 Sept. 2013. Web. 18 Sept. 2013.