Learning with Minecraft

Many in the media and the academia have touted Minecraft as a hotbed of learning. Learning with Minecraft studies how children might learn spatial reasoning and programming skills within and around the game. We conducted a comparative study of student collaboration under two conditions: 1) Completing a construction task in a traditional Minecraft server; and 2) Using the MakeCode interface in Minecraft Education Edition. Additionally, we used screen capture and eye tracking technologies to collect data and investigate spatial reasoning processes in Minecraft gameplay.

Past Minecraft Events

Minecraft Escape Room Challenge

Screenshot of a Minecraft escape room map built for the challenge

Minecraft Pixel Art Build Challenge

Pixel art creations built block-by-block in Minecraft

D65 Minecraft Snowball Fight

Students playing a snowball fight mini-game in Minecraft

Minecraft Roller Coaster Building Challenge

A student-built roller coaster winding through a Minecraft world

Publications from This Project

Issa, J., Kumar, V., & Worsley, M. (2024). Spatial Cognition Through Gestural Interfaces: Embodied Play and Learning with Minecraft. HCI International 2024, pp. 45-56.

Worsley, M., & Bar-El, D. (2020). Spatial Reasoning in Minecraft: An Exploratory Study of In-Game Spatial Practices.

PDF

Andrus, B., Bar-El, D., Msall, C., Uttal, D., & Worsley, M. (2020). Minecraft as a Generative Platform for Analyzing and Practicing Spatial Reasoning. In German Conference on Spatial Cognition (pp. 297-302). Springer, Cham.

DOI