Microsoft Sending Minecraft To Summer School 40
Reader theodp writes: Four months after its one hour Minecraft "infomercial" ran in schools around the world as part of the Hour of Code, Microsoft announced the release of Minecraft: Education Edition. From the announcement: "Minecraft: Education Edition early access will be available in 11 languages and 41 countries. During the summer months, we are also going to be focused on working with educators on building out lesson plans, sharing learning activity ideas, and creating re-usable projects." Microsoft bought Minecraft for $2.5 billion back in 2014. "What many may not realize," said Microsoft last November as it announced a Minecraft-themed tutorial that it would inspire students to learn computer science skills, and "that Minecraft has the power to transform learning on a global scale. By creating a virtual world and then advancing in it, students can learn digital citizenship, empathy, social skills and even improve their literacy "while getting real-time feedback on their problem-solving skills from the teacher." At the time, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told teachers that Minecraft is key to getting girls involved in computer science. So is Minecraft really all that?
First.... (Score:3, Funny)
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Or she could use any other flavour of desktop Linux and it would just work as well. Gentoo has a reputation for being very much for advanced, "hands-on" users.
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You'd be amazed at what people build. Everything from simple circuits to automatically open doors and exploiting the game physics to have signals degrade at a fix rate to introduce intentional calibrated delays to full blown Apple 2 recreations and oscilloscopes. There are programmable elements now introducing programming or you can do it more hardware styl
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You shouldn't be trying to discourage a kid from playing minecraft. Minecraft is a giant creative sandbox with extremely sophisticated logical circuitry.
You'd be amazed at what people build.
Yes, you CAN build anything just like you CAN build anything on an ipad or a computer. The problem I have with minecraft and other games like it is that the potential is there but what if all they do is spend hours and hours spawning and killing monsters? Or in software like tynker or scratch, they download a mario knockoff games that other people have already built and just play those. Minecraft is similar to a computer or an ipad. The potential to create anything is there but if your kid is spending 8
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Comes pre-installed (and working) on Raspberry Pi.
One thing to remember about Microsoft... (Score:2)
Re:Minecraft really is all that (Score:5, Informative)
For what it's worth, in Minecraft "slime-powered" dicks can be built to move slowly across the sky, travelling horizontally.
An even better idea (Score:3)
Here's an even better idea: why not start kids as early as possible on this idea of making complex objects out of simple components? For example, I could create a system of interchangeable plastic blocks that very small children could put together, either free-form, using their own imaginations, or in specially designed kits that are intended to be assembled (with instructions) into an exciting macro-toy. Even better, after they get tired of the macro toy, they could tear it down and go free-form with the pieces!
I could envision such plastic blocks becoming popular world-wide, and could see them making their way into homes, daycare centers, preschools, and even elementary schools. Heck, I might even play with those myself. Imagine the educational possibilities for kids of all ages!
If my idea succeeds, I wonder how many billions Microsoft would pay me for it?
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Good point - Everything is Awesome!
I hope kids will work with the blocks in groups - Everything is cool when you're part of a team!
But even if all our big ideas to change the world never pan out - Everything is awesome when we're living our dream!
Re:An even better idea (Score:4, Insightful)
For example, I could create a system of interchangeable plastic blocks that very small children could put together, either free-form, using their own imaginations, or in specially designed kits that are intended to be assembled (with instructions) into an exciting macro-toy...
Yeah but I never stepped on a Minecraft block barefoot in the middle of the night.
In my experience with my son... (Score:5, Insightful)
So is Minecraft really all that?
I was always into computers, writing programs in BASIC on my Commodore Vic20 when I was barely old enough to read/write. When my son showed little to no interest in computers, I was disappointed but supportive in endeavors he did seem to enjoy which had corollaries to my obsession w/computers such as lego, puzzles, engineering, science, etc.
When he expressed interest in Minecraft, I was admittedly skeptical as I see most kids just playing it as a game. However, my son uses it like computer Legos, building shit over and over again and exploring the virtual world of a 6 year old.
Starting with this, I hope he continues to learn about items which interest him through his directly manipulatable world just like I did through my own when I was his age. While like any tool may not be the best for every child to learn, it has begun to pay off and allow him to grow and develop educationally w/o him wanting to play it only as a mindless game.
So no, it's not "all that" but it's certainly better than him watching TV or only playing games on a tablet or game system.
To kill a mocking bird (Score:2)
My son's language arts teacher wanted the kids to draw a map of the town the story occurs in. They were allowed to also build it in minecraft. I thought that was a great way to build engagement for the kids between doing something that love as a way to visualize a story that when taught in english class isn't terribly fun.
I also had great success in introducing my kids to python using the Adventures in Minecraft on a Raspberry Pi. It's a really fun introduction. They had it so when steve walked near cer
Minecraft (Score:2)
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I'm not privy to the details of the educational edition. But in the original minecraft, there is something called Redstone. Redstone acts like a sort of electricity(that is, it has a digital on and off state), and with it - you can create logic gates. When you combine redstone with pistons (a block that can push or pull other blocks), you can make really impressive stuff using these logic gates. I've seen elaborate doors, hidden away staircases, and elevators created using redstone. Really impressive s
Factorio (Score:3)
Minecraft + open source = Minetest (Score:2)
http://www.minetest.net/ [minetest.net]
Still not as complete as the original, but giving the giant amount of Minecraft users, Minetest project is not likely to fail even is only a very small fraction of Minecraft users actually make contribution to Minetest.
Help children ? (Score:1)
Minecraft will not interest girls in science (Score:2)
Orwell....? (Score:2)
"...students can learn digital citizenship, empathy, social skills and ..." I just don't think handing over our children's education to government/corporations is a great idea...