Before I actually dive in, I want to start with a clarification about what this post, and future posts regarding games and education, will be about. I am interested in exploring products that are video games first and foremost, which happen to have educational value or can be used in a classroom setting. I am NOT interested in education games, meaning games that are created explicitly as teaching tools. While these products may be fantastic tools that help assess students’ simple skills and can give immediate feedback, they are not authentic. Authenticity, I believe, is incredibly important and can be the difference between making the game into an enjoyable learning experience rather than one more assignment to complete. Once again, some of the scholastic games, as just an example of a company that release educational games, were fun and enjoyable. However, they are not games that are intended for entertainment, but rather education, and thus can lose their novelty.
As technology advances, so too must education advance. The education field takes time though to adopt new technology for widespread classroom use. This is due to the cost it takes to provide schools with the needed technology, as well as allowing the technology time to grow into itself. Games are still a budding technology, so it makes sense that they are not being used widely in classes, especially to the extent of other mediums. Additionally, games are typically experiences for a singular person or small group of people, making it more expensive than film or books.
But recently, there have been a few games making waves in the education field that deserve notice, with the wildly popular Minecraft chief among them. If you are around children between 5 years old to 18 years old, then you most likely have at least heard of the game. For those of you not familiar with it, or that are only familiar with it in a name-only basis, the game is very open with no actual objective. Rather, it provides the player with a sort of sand box in which to play and create. Think of Minecraft as access to a tub of life-sized Lego blocks with no instruction books. There are two modes to the game: survival and creation. Survival mode includes enemies that players must survive and players must forage and build for their resources. Creation mode allows the player to fly in order to most easily navigate large constructs and provides the player with a complete inventory of any and all resources. This game has incredible value in education and can be used in many different subjects and across multiple grades.
One of the best educational tools to use with Minecraft is Minecraftedu. Minecraftedu is a modified build of the original game that is sold separately and with the approval of the original developing team. Sadly, this modified build is not available for individual sale and must instead be bought by the school in relatively large orders (enough for at least a classroom). However, Minecraftedu seems to make up for its limited availability by providing very helpful features for use specifically in the classroom. The modified version removes enemies and weapons, while retaining the creative spark that made the original build such as hit. There are items included in the modified build not available in the retail version as well. Lastly, there is a library of worlds that teachers can download, essentially as lesson templates, for free once minecraftedu is purchased. These worlds and challenges are created and uploaded by other teachers with each world aiming to teach some skill or another. One world is a place for students to learn about biomes, while another is a recreation of the island from Swiss Family Robinson that students can explore and experience.
So how can I use this in a classroom?
There really are many possibilities for any subject.
For the English teacher, a dedicated teacher can recreate a setting from a book, or have students recreate a setting as a virtual diorama. Alternatively, English teachers could utilize the survival mode and have students create stories based off of their individual experiences in the game; one student may have had an intense run-in with a wolf or giant spider early on and could narrate the harrowing experience, while another is able to give voice to the success after creating a sustaining farm. This activity could be particularly well paired with survival texts such as Hatchet, Lord of the Flies, or even Hunger Games.
Social Studies teachers can absolutely benefit from the catalog of downloadable worlds. There are many examples of recreated world wonders within the game. Students can explore the Forbidden City or experience the tight wanderings through trenches that littered the western front during World War I. Students may also recreate any of these histroical events or cultural centers in the game as a project or part of a presentation.
Math teachers would be able to put some of the word problems into a less abstract world. By attributing lengths with each block, a teacher could have students work with perimeter and area in terms of building a structure, and can provide students with visual and dynamic representations of fractions.
And of course, art teachers could utilize Minecraft as a new medium for students to work with. Students can create pixelated mosaics or sculpt 3D representations of objects or structures. 
I understand that using this game in a classroom would require a lot of time and patience for the teacher to learn the game and create the world that the class would use, and many teachers may feel that they do not have the time available for that. However, given the popularity of this game, especially with school-aged children, there are few games available that would have the excitement and novelty that Minecraft would have in the classroom.
Now is the Time for Games 