{"id":6673686,"date":"2026-04-19T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/?p=6673686"},"modified":"2026-04-04T07:18:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T12:18:24","slug":"building-skills-what-minecraft-really-does-for-childrens-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/building-skills-what-minecraft-really-does-for-childrens-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Skills? What Minecraft Really Does for Children’s Thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Research doesn’t often sound fun<\/em>, so you can imagine my enthusiasm when I came across a study exploring Minecraft. Yes, that<\/em> Minecraft \u2013 with the blocks and the digging and the building. And those fluffy animals that bound around the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, a research team in Ireland \u2013 led by Dr. Eadaoin Slattery \u2013 wondered what effect Minecraft would have on particular cognitive abilities<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the story:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s Get Building<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Slattery\u2019s team worked with roughly 450 5th<\/sup> and 6th<\/sup> grade students. These students undertook \u201cMinecraft Education\u201d exercises such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Creating a maze<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Creating a map of their local area<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Depicting a scene from a book they had recently read<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    They spent 60-90 minutes on these assignments during a week over the course of six weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The control group \u2013 roughly the same number of students — simply went about their schooling as usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Researchers tested all the students \u2013 those in control group, and those who did those fun exercises \u2013 three times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Immediately before <\/em>the Minecraft Education program began.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • After<\/em> the final exercise<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Six weeks later<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Specifically, they tested students on two cognitive capacities: their spatial ability<\/strong>, and their creativity<\/strong>. They also interviewed teachers to learn more about the classroom experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Reasons for Praise, Reasons for Caution<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      This study has several noteworthy strengths. It includes an unusually large number of participants. Whereas other published studies looking at Minecraft have (I\u2019m not making this up) 27 and 11 participants, this one has several hundred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Researchers also measured outcomes several weeks after the Minecraft exercises concluded. Research frequently finds that short-term benefits don\u2019t last, so we\u2019re glad to see how enduring any potential benefits might be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      At the same time, we should sound a few notes of caution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      In the first place, the study was funded by\u2026Microsoft. Even with the best of intentions, they no doubt hoped that the research would find all sorts of benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      More technically, this study compares students who did something extra<\/em> with students who did nothing special<\/em>. We call this a \u201cbusiness-as-usual\u201d control group, and they\u2019re not the most persuasive. Potential benefits could result from the Minecraft. Or they could result from the excitement of doing a cool new thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      For both those reasons, we should prepare to check our enthusiasm if we see big differences between these groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The End of the Maze<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      So, what did the researchers find? How much did Minecraft improve spatial reasoning and creativity?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Not at all. Nope. Nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      More precisely, researchers found a short-term<\/em> increase in spatial reasoning among the fifth graders who did the exercises \u2013 but that increase had vanished six weeks later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Surprisingly, at the end of the exercise they found that creativity scores were higher among the \u201cbusiness-as-usual\u201d control group \u2013 although that difference also vanished after six weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      I think the most precise summary of these findings sounds like this: \u201cthese Minecraft Education exercises didn\u2019t make any lasting measurable difference. They didn\u2019t help students; they didn\u2019t harm students.\u201d And this result comes from a study that \u2013 as noted above \u2013 might have been expected to favor Minecraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      By the way: in those interviews I mentioned, teachers reported high levels of engagement in the Minecraft exercises. They also believed that the exercises helped students with spatial reasoning and creativity. This result might sound<\/em> like good news, but to me it adds another note of caution. With alarming frequency, teachers sincerely believe<\/em> that a particular classroom activity results in a particular benefit. But when researchers measure as best they can, they find no real improvement. Our professional optimism often serves us well, but in some cases \u2013 it seems \u2013 that optimism can lead us to see progress where none exists. Research results like these remind us to be cautious about “trusting our instincts.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The Center of the Maze<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Although a study about Minecraft sounds fun, the results here might seem like an anti-climax. I myself have a more positive take. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • This study strongly suggests that we can’t improve student spatial reasoning or creativity by having them play Minecraft. This finding can prevent <\/em>us from wasting valuable class time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • It also reminds us to confirm our hunches with data. Teachers thought<\/em> the Minecraft games helped … but researchers couldn’t confirm their impression. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        As is so often the case, research helps us by offering inspiring possibilities, and by keeping our feet planted on firm ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n\n\n\n

        Slattery, E. J., Butler, D., O\u2019Leary, M., & Marshall, K. (2024). Teachers\u2019 experiences of using Minecraft Education in primary school: An Irish perspective. Irish Educational Studies<\/em>, 43<\/em>(4), 965-984.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Research doesn’t often sound fun, so you can imagine my enthusiasm when I came across a study exploring Minecraft. Yes, that Minecraft \u2013 with the blocks and the digging and the building. And those fluffy animals that bound around the screen. Specifically, a research team in Ireland \u2013 led by Dr. Eadaoin Slattery \u2013 wondered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":6673770,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6673686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lb-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6673686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6673686"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6673686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6673771,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6673686\/revisions\/6673771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6673770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6673686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6673686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6673686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}