Minecraft in the Classroom: Ideas, inspiration, and student projects for teachers

Introduction

When I first installed and started playing Minecraft (alpha release) back in 2009, I didn’t know I was stumbling into something that was about to explode with popularity worldwide. Minecraft looked way different back then. There were no potions, no wolves, and no ender dragons, and there was no redstone. As I fashioned a rudimentary pickaxe out of wood and tunneled into a nearby mountain for the night, I was amazed at how engaged I was. For a game with graphics out of the ‘80s, the gameplay and engagement was something that I had not experienced before. As strange noises emerged out of the darkness of a cloudy full moon sky, I was thoroughly immersed in surviving the night and making it through to craft another day. Something was ...