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Council for Economic Education Releases New Content for Minecraft Education
The New York-based Council for Economic Education (CEE) has released new content for Minecraft: Education Edition, produced by Mojang and Microsoft.
Last week, CEE released two free Minecraft lesson plans providing teachers in grades 3 to 5 nationwide the opportunity to further engage their students on the subject of economics via one of the most popular games in the world.
The lesson plans are designed for students to explore how to make smart economic choices in a team setting. When playing Minecraft, groups of students will evaluate the costs and benefits to help determine the types of resources needed to build a structure. In turn, when they’ve created a structure in Minecraft, they will reflect on how their economic decisions made a positive or negative impact on their built environment.
“Only 20 states require students to take a course in high school economics and it’s our mission to ensure kids at every age are given the opportunity to learn key economic concepts,” said Nan Morrison, CEO and president of CEE, in a statement. “Using Minecraft is a fun and easy way to teach kids about fundamental life skills —choices, costs and benefits — all core principles of economics.”
CEE will continue to develop free Minecraft lesson plans tied to economic concepts for teachers to use in the classroom. To view the two free lesson plans, visit these sites:
Teachers can sign up for a trial of Minecraft: Education Edition by visiting the Minecraft Education website.
CEE is a nonprofit organization that focuses on the economic and financial education of K–12 students. The organization provides free economic and personal finance lessons and resources for educators at its site EconEdLink.
About the Author
Richard Chang is associate editor of THE Journal. He can be reached at rchang@1105media.com.