Minecraft As A Mandatory Subject In School? Sweet!
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Sweden has to be one of the coolest places for a kid to grow up in - First, they introduced the concept of schools with no grades or classrooms, then came Monstrum's amazing playgrounds and now, the coolest idea of all - 'Forcing' 13-year-olds to play Minecraft as part of the classroom curriculum.
The seed for this rather radical idea was planted when the government of Sweden organized a national school competition called 'Future City' for which classrooms were asked to submit their ideas about the kind of structures they envisioned in the Sweden of the future.
It was such a success that educators at Stockholm’s Viktor Rydberg school decided to continue this 'out of the box' thinking by incorporating Minecraft into the class curriculum for 13-year-students.
According to the teachers, the game which challenges kids to use their imagination by building virtual worlds complete with electricity grids, water supply pumps and anything else they would like to see in their future, allows students to think beyond the classroom frontiers. This they believe will help them make better decisions as adults, especially about things like the environmental impact of their actions. And while it may sound radical to most people they liken it to teaching a woodcraft class - except in this case, all the construction is being conducted in a virtual world.
So far, 180, 13-year girls and boys, have participated in this mandatory unit, which not surprisingly has been such a huge hit that the school is planning to make it a permanent addition to their curriculum. It of course augments, not replaces, core subjects like math and science. The educators say that even parents who were a little apprehensive about their kids playing video games at school, are now on board and fully support this decision.
We wonder if any school in the US would even consider such a drastic curriculum addition - And how parents would react. What do you think? Be sure to let us know, by adding your comments below.
Resources: The local.se, gizmag.com
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13802 Comments
bravesunalmost 8 yearsbut mc is the best in the world
ajg16almost 8 yearsDoes anyone play any other games besides MC, roblox & fortnite??
bacon_bitzzalmost 8 yearsYeah totally! I play Roblox and on Roblox I play jailbreak, which is the life of a prisoner of cop u can choose, but the point is too escape jail (if prisoner) and get weapons, Rob places like the museum or the bank, and with that money u can buy really nice cars like a Bugatti, Ferrari, Lamborghini and a lot of other cool stuff!!! :-D :-) :-! =-O U can also be a cop... There goal is to arrest the prisoner. I get cash from that and you can get more cash depending on how many places the criminal Has robbed. @ajg15 you should try it sometime- ajg16almost 8 yearsJailbreak sounds really fun, can you down load it on the Amazon app store? Thank you for the recommendation I realllyyy wanna play, thanks @dennis15 :-)
- bacon_bitzzalmost 8 yearsYou can but it you are playing it on your iPad or kindle your experience is degraded... The controls are harder. I recommend it on a computer! :-) btw the game is called roblo x and on Roblox u play Jailbreak
- ajg16almost 8 yearsI'll ask my parents if I can download it 😁 and can I bug you with 1 more question, is it free of do you pay?
- bacon_bitzzalmost 8 yearsCrazy cool new avatar @ajg15!
- ajg16almost 8 yearsThanks! Love yours to! 🎃
- bacon_bitzzalmost 8 yearsGood question. It is completely free! That's another reason why I.Like it so much!! :-D
- ajg16almost 8 yearsYES! I'll ask my parents as soon as they get home from there vacation. Thank you!! ❤
- bacon_bitzzalmost 8 yearsYou're welcome! :-)
spaceiscoolalmost 8 yearsI like your paragraph.It’s huge.
bunnieicecreamalmost 8 yearsI love that game,it's my favorite,but I'm really bad at it!!😛😇😃- bacon_bitzzalmost 8 yearsI like your new avatar!
- bacon_bitzzalmost 8 yearsI'm good at it!
- nkalmost 8 yearsyum
- jralmost 8 yearsfortnite is way better
- ajg16almost 8 yearsYah.. No it isnt
- bunnieicecreamalmost 8 yearsAgreed
- jralmost 8 yearsso cool
- ...almost 8 yearsthis is legitness
- bunnieicecreamalmost 8 yearsMinecraft is actually educational in some ways.Maybe physics???
- ...almost 8 yearsme and my brother lllllllllloooooovvvvvvee minecraft
- ajg16almost 8 yearsNothings more satisfying on MC then getting a ton of friends together on one server & building something crazy cool! We build a huge brick mansion with a "boys" dorm & "girls dorm" and there tents in the back. It almost had a private school or boarding school look to it. 😅
- bacon_bitzzalmost 8 yearsAwesome!!
- bunnieicecreamalmost 8 yearsWow cool 😎😎
- doomkid7000almost 8 yearsThis is awesome! WE need minecraft. We have chromebooks, right? So why not Minecraft
- bunnieicecreamalmost 8 yearsExactly
