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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13800 Comments
- 20013860over 10 yearsWOW SOOOOOOOOOO COOL
- Gabiover 10 yearsI think it's a good art subject because to build like that you need to be creative and its art!
- 20017431over 10 yearsamasing soo amasing
- 20014470over 10 yearsI LOVE MINECRAFT
basicsamover 10 yearsi think that this is an inappropriate thing for school because there is no telling what they could do - for example, the people might not do what they are supposed to do because it is one of the best selling games - and people are bound to abuse it. They might play at inappropriate times and would not pay attention to other people at school.
ag2626over 10 yearsI think having mind craft at school is bad idea because I don't think people will learn any thing from it. They might learn about how to play the game but that, people don't need to know that. Also playing game is bad for there eyes.
boulaphinhover 10 yearsI would love to have minecraft at school because I can play it all the time and probably skip recess for it and build lots of things like a giant house and make a redstone machine .👍🏼🎮👾
dbanyover 10 yearsI think it will be cool to have minecraft at school because you will have fun and also challenge yourself trying to build something hard. 👍👍😀😀
062205agover 10 yearsI Think minecraft is a good game to create things and do like your dream house and you can build a school too and a city all with people so i Think is a good idea to have minecraft at school. 🤗👍🏻✍🏻
danielleyover 10 yearsI think that we should not have mincraft in school because mincraft can be distracted in school,and kids might be distracted for kid like to think more of minecraft,and can't control there learning,then they will forgot what there learning.
