Technology has been a saving grace over the last year where education is concerned, with homeschooling taking place online as a result of the pandemic and lockdown restrictions. 

And it is certainly possible that a blended learning approach will be taken by schools moving forward, with digital technology featuring more prominently in lessons, both in person and remotely, in the future.

This presents a prime opportunity for greater uptake of the concept of gaming in education, with the benefits associated with this becoming increasingly apparent through the use of games like Minecraft.

As explained by Full Sync, Minecraft encourages cooperation, creativity and planning - all of which are undoubtedly highly valuable skills to develop. But the game itself is both organic and engaging, which helps it remain fun for users, so much so that they may not even know that they’re learning at the same time.

The Minecraft: Education Edition is used by schools in more than 115 countries, with learning really at the heart of the immersive experience, allowing users to learn about computer science, chemistry and other such topics in an interactive way.

As well as teaching problem-solving, games like Minecraft also provide basic coding lessons using Python, which is a general purpose programming language and can be picked up very quickly, so ideal for beginners.

“Gaming in schools via this model introduces students to the elements that make them tick at an early age, in a colourful and easily digested manner. In a complicated time, gaming and technology have allowed education to flourish, where it would have outright stalled before,” it was observed.

Here at Blue Shift Coding, our lessons are a balance of learning and playing, and children who come to us leave with a passion for coding and robotics… and they’re always delighted by what they get to make, having a lot of fun along the way.