
Could Minecraft be the next great engineering school? - pdx
http://qz.com/32868/could-minecraft-be-the-next-great-engineering-school/
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pdx
Both my son (6) and daughter (5) are avid Minecrafters. I got them the game at
Christmas, and in 4 months, they are both still extremely enthusiastic,
spending hours a day building worlds.

They are both learning to read because of it, since they sometimes need to
search for items from the creative mode search bar, as well as when they hover
over an item to see what it is, and for my son, he's also typing queries into
the minecraft wiki, google, and youtube, to get answers to his questions when
I'm still at work and can't help him. This is a six year old.

They're also learning to add and subtract, as they use up blocks to make
things, or add items when mining.

Watching them build, even the youngest one, reminds me strongly of watching a
mechanical engineer running Pro-E or SolidWorks, as they quickly and
effortlessly change orientation and position to place a new block or to
inspect what they just built. It's become 2nd nature to them, with no
hesitation as they pan around in 3D like a Mech Eng with 5 years experience.

I am amazed at what this game is doing for them. They are leaps and bounds
ahead of where I was at their age.

