My children LOVE Minecraft:

… and so, for my free inquiry project, I’ve decided to learn a bit more about the software and what it is all about.  I have had tremendous resistance to playing video games with my kids.  As a young person, growing up in the golden age of Nintendo and Sega Genesis, I played A LOT of video games and eventually gave it all up in grade 9.  Now when I look at video games, I have ZERO interest in them.  However, I am curious about the possibilities present and am curious to explore a bit more about my own resistance, especially since the game is so important to my children.  I have also heard a lot of educational opportunities through Minecraft applications and other softwares more generally.  The future of education is unlikely to be something as traditional as a classroom, and I know there are tremendous opportunities available to educators to enhance what education is and looks like.   I am reminded of a podcast I listened to where Joe Rogan is speaking with Evolutionary Biologist Geoffrey Miller about the video game Civilisation:

 Through gameplay, users are introduced to the various stages of human technological innovations; this is similar to the world that users are presented with in the early stages of Minecraft before there was “creative” mode.