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Microsoft Sees Minecraft as a Teaching Tool

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When Microsoft announced this week it bought Mojang and Minecraft for $2.5 billion, a lot of assumptions about why were made. Most analysts focused on Microsoft’s desire to win the mobile space and how Minecraft could help it by becoming a popular app for its Windows Phone.

But according to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft also thinks the game’s popularity with children and its build anything possibilities makes it a great tool for teaching STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) concepts.

“If you talk about STEM education, the best way to introduce anyone to STEM or get their curiosity going on, it’s Minecraft,” Geekwire reports Nadella said at the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce annual luncheon. “So I think what this open-world phenomenon will mean to the community at large, for people who builders, is pretty big, and we are very excited about the acquisition, obviously.”

“We are really excited about being stewards to the community that is Minecraft,” Nadella added.

Nadella isn’t the first person to notice Minecraft’s educational possibilities. Several virtual classrooms have been set up using Minecraft servers, teachers use it in real-life classrooms and one company has developed an entire coding curriculum around the game available.

Image by LockRikard

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