Beyond the Webinar: Minecraft Education in Action
More than Just a Game?
I started using Minecraft Pocket Edition in my classroom in 2011 before Minecraft Education was even a thing. We could only get six devices into a world at once. There was no carefully designed curriculum integration, no teacher guide and certainly no expectation that I knew what I was doing.
We were learning together, teacher and students, and we had a lot of fun.
Fast forward to today, and I am now a Minecraft Education Ambassador, currently the southernmost ambassador in the world. I now build Minecraft worlds to engage students and support learning, and I also work with the Coastal Otago RTLB cluster to support digital fluency.
Through this work, I've seen Minecraft become much more than a game. For many learners, it has become a place where they can connect, contribute and succeed.
One ākonga I worked with, alongside an RTLB and Kaiako, had significant difficulty developing social skills and connecting with his peers. He had a strong love of food, so I asked him what he thought about designing and building a restaurant in Minecraft. From there, an idea began to take shape.
We brought together a team of his peers and, over several weeks, turned his ideas into reality. The project began with a group brainstorm on paper and ended with a fully functioning Minecraft restaurant. What started as a learning activity became a powerful opportunity for him to communicate, negotiate, problem-solve and collaborate with others.
The impact extended far beyond the project itself. When he moved to his next kura, he drew on the confidence and relationships he had developed to help establish and lead a Minecraft Club, while maintaining friendships with students from his previous school.
For me, this experience reinforced the power of starting with an ākonga’s strengths and interests. When learning is meaningful to them, it can open doors to connection, confidence and a genuine sense of belonging.
That made me stop and think about Minecraft's power as a social space. The building project was important, but the connections were even more important.
Another ākonga I am currently supporting, with input from an RTLB, is autistic and has found sustained engagement in the classroom extremely challenging. Minecraft has provided a meaningful pathway into learning by connecting with his strong interest in World War I.
He is now recreating World War I trenches in Minecraft, leading a team of students and using the built-in tools in Minecraft Education to develop, communicate and share his ideas. Soon, he will take on a leadership role within a classroom Minecraft programme, supporting and guiding other students in their learning.
The ākonga who once found classroom engagement so difficult is now becoming the expert, sharing his knowledge, leading others and developing a genuine sense of purpose and belonging. His kaiako has seen a significant shift in his confidence and engagement and now sees the value in creating opportunities for him to share his strengths with others. As a result, he will soon be leading the Minecraft Club on Fridays, supporting other students and sharing his expertise.
So, what makes Minecraft different? I think the answer lies in familiarity, engagement, and multiple ways of communicating.
Minecraft does not offer a single pathway to success. Ākonga can build, explore, code, write, problem-solve, collaborate and lead, giving them multiple ways to engage with learning and demonstrate what they know.
For someone who finds writing challenging, a build can become a powerful way to communicate their thinking. For åkonga who find social interaction difficult, working towards a shared goal can provide a natural and purposeful way to connect and collaborate with others.
This is Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in practice, creating multiple pathways for learners to engage, access information, participate and demonstrate their understanding. Minecraft Education also includes a range of accessibility tools, including Microsoft’s Immersive Reader, helping remove barriers to participation.
With more than 1,000 curriculum-aligned resources currently available for Minecraft Education, alongside worlds designed to support areas such as emotional regulation and social skills, it offers opportunities to make learning more accessible, engaging and meaningful for a diverse range of learners.
But perhaps the most powerful lesson Minecraft has highlighted for me, and for the RTLBs, Kaiako and other professionals I work alongside, is the importance of seeing capability rather than focusing on limitation.
When an ākonga struggles with a classroom activity, it can be easy to focus on what they cannot yet do. But when we change the environment, draw on their strengths and provide a different pathway into learning, something quite different can emerge.
The ākonga who struggled socially became a club leader. The ākonga who struggled to engage became the expert in teaching others. These experiences remind us that sometimes the barrier is not the learner; it is how the learning is accessed.
Minecraft is not a magic solution, nor does it replace good teaching, strong relationships, structure or the right support. What it can provide is another way into learning, a different environment where ākonga can draw on their strengths, discover what they are capable of, and show us what they can do. And sometimes, when we open that door, we discover possibilities we never expected.
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata
It is the people, it is the people, it is the people.
Kia kite i te pūmanawa o te ākonga, kaua ko ōna whāititanga.
See the learner’s strengths and capabilities, rather than their limitations.
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