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This article features the popular fast-talking video making its way around the web that showcases how Mincraft may very well be "the ultimate education tool." Whether you agree or not, the video raises some interesting ideas. Basically, the Idea Channel folks (who made the video) posit that Minecraft is such a valuable tool because it's so customizable. They talk about how video games have long been used in education but how Minecraft offers a new approach by letting the player construct the game. In other words, a teacher could build his or her own video game tailored to the lessons being taught in the classroom. The students could then enter that custom game and explore, learn, and even build upon it themselves. This blog post editorializes the video and provides both pros and cons regarding the use of Minecraft in education based on comments made about the video.

There's a popular fast-talking video making its way around the web that showcases how Mincraft may very well be "the ultimate education tool." Whether you agree or not, the video raises some interesting ideas.

The official wiki for the minecraftEDU community. Every day, more and more teachers are using the world-building game Minecraft to engage and educate. The game is a true phenomenon and gamers young and old are using it in countless creative ways. Practitioners of Games Based Education have realized the potential and have embraced Minecraft in classrooms around the world. MinecraftEdu is the collaboration of a small team of educators and programmers from the United States and Finland. We are working with Mojang AB of Sweden, the creators of Minecraft, to make the game affordable and accessible to schools everywhere. We have also created a suite of tools--a modified Minecraft server and client--that make it easy to unlock the power of Minecraft in your classroom.

Recently I've spent some time reading parenting websites about Minecraft. What is said is often repetitive, aggregated and lacks much substance. If you are a parent, or Minecraft player, then I hope this post will provide you with some further ideas about how the game works on our minds.

It's been almost a year since I first wrote about the work of Joel Levin (aka " The Minecraft Teacher") bringing the 3D world-building game Minecraft into his second-grade classroom. Much has changed since then -- the full release of the PC version of the game, for starters.

Wonderfully written reflection by an 8th grader on the benefits of MC.

Another installment of the mining minecraft guest blog spot by Marianne Malstrom on netfamily news.

Home of the minecraft forum including downloads, online discussions, the minecraft wiki, etc. Great minecraft resource.

I hosted my first Open Minecraft Lab yesterday in Robertson Library at the University of PEI. Because one of the goals of the project is to spread word of our experiences, I'm documenting here some of the details of how we set things up, and how the day went. I'll update this next week after we have our second session.

"Teaching Scientific Concepts Using a Virtual World - Minecraft"

Blog dedicated to Mr. Jarrett's after school minecraft program at Northfield County Schools

This wiki was put together by Lucas Gillispie (@PCSTech) from the Penderton County School district in North Carolina. Minecraft is used widely in PCS and this wiki provides great resources for those using or interested in using minecraft in a school setting.

Installment 1 of the guest blog series by Marianne Malstrom on NetFamily News. Great thoughts on using minecraft in the classroom.

Massively minecraft is an online community encouraging students and parents to play minecraft together.

Minecraft Camp run by adults in Darwin, Australia for kids. Elfie and Tim Wicks.

"Student Feature on the educational value of Minecraft"

Great Britain recreated in Minecraft using ordnance survey data.

Minecraft, Science, and STEM stream which was part of the Minecraft and more Unsymposium.

I recently returned from a holiday in Orlando, Florida, where I was privileged to be able to attend "Minecon", a convention for the popular sandbox game "Minecraft", developed by Mojang AB. Personally I'm a big fan and long term player of the game, and I'm amazed at how this 'phenomenon' has swept across the world.

Join the Institute of Play google hangout or check it out after the fact.