My teacher still thinks Minecraft is like.... pixel verison of COD (Call of Duty) I keep on trying to explain, but it doesn't work (I want Notch as my Math teacher)

I so agree with this. We need to hire Nic Cage to go tell teachers to let us play mc in school

Social studies: You could build ancient civilizations or something. They started around rivers for farming, like Mesopotamia. You could build some kind of ancient city and reanact the lives of those people. Your whole class could go on a server and cooperate to build it or something.

here is what you do to play minecraft in school in a part of C.A. (i can;t spell states names unless it is the one i am in or new york so i hope you know what state i am talking about and if you don't it is on the west coast of the U.S.) they actually have a class where you can use minecraft (i heard of this a year ago so some details are a little fuzzy but ya.)

Minecraft can be put to good use to a few practices in early days of school, in my opinion though I don't see how it would benefit that much. And you probably wouldn't be playing the game either because that would require the school board to pump out money for decent computers, copies of the game, and ensure that any use from it is not infringing the copy rights to the owners of the game.

I see your points on how it would be useful though, with basic math for adding/dividing/multiplications/subtractions. Think about it, although most of you may use those basic math skills for daily use. After we're done school some others may still need those skills and knowledge of algebra or all that fancy stuff due to careers like architecture or a finance accountant.

As for other subjects like English literature, you're limited to what you can write about in the forms of essays. Not to mention in the game there's barely any kind of fictional writing unless you go on role-play sites (from what I've experienced). The game gives a lack of understanding when it comes to reading and writing comprehensions. You craft a book, write a little bit of this and that, then publish and close it. Aside from "Today I mined a few blocks, slayed some creepers/zombies, and built myself a fantastic structure". It is not possible in my opinion to teach much in the English language.

Which also ties into biology and social studies, the ecosystem in the game is some-what realistic along with the animal behavior and basic needs of them. But it doesn't teach you too much, kill a pig, out pops a porkchop from thin air. Kill a cow, out pops raw beef and leather. Not to much else to learn from it, but I see it might be of good use to possibly introduce a class lesson on how those food products might be produced or where they come from which can tie into geography the habitat they originally lived in.

I am some-what on the fence about art/tech. In a way it is "art" and in a way it isn't, you place a few blocks down and create something. Great! That's fantastic, however you only created it by clicking a few buttons along with visual senses. You created it simply by mind dulling repetitions of *click* *click*. There is not much hands on skill application through your mind and learning the skills of painting, drawing, or even basic drafting. However, I have seen some people create amazing structures such as castles, office towers, historical monuments like the Tower of Pisa, or even awesome working computers using "red stone tech" placing specific layout of red stone, levers/etc to create a lot of amazing working modern electronics. But I doubt anyone can finish a large structure like that in Minecraft within 3 hours worth of art class in 3 days for some sort of project.

As for the music classes, just like my thoughts in the previous statement. The problem is there is simply no hands on skills with classical instruments like guitar, drums, or even the ever so glorious hand cymbals that we all "love" (that was sarcasm by the way). Aside from hands on skills, what about music theory? How would a teacher go ahead of time to play the game to set up, and prepare an entire lesson that incorporates both the game and being able to teach in a quick and efficient manner? Not possible and if it were, it would be very time consuming...

Minecraft is creative game without a doubt, it presents itself as a very simple and easy way to apply basic knowledge of mathematical skills, possibly some basic music theory knowledge to teach about. But along with those two come extra time consuming work for teachers to set up lessons, the need for money that the school board would also need from the tax payers money, the extra (although simple) training/know how so teachers are be able to play enough to explain lessons with no hesitation. In the end it is a video game that shows not enough promise to be using in daily classes for the education system.

If you have ever seen minecraft: the story of mojang, you would know that some schools actually do use minecraft in some lessons.