Gaming - including Minecraft - can teach reading

Good old fashioned reading and writing can be taught by engaging children in gaming. Lets reword that - children are engaged in gaming and therefore are motivated to read and write when the content is related to the game.

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How can we boost reading through gaming?

It isn't the game that teaches reading and writing but the activity outside of the game. Take Minecraft for example, it offers a highly flexible world that can be manipulated and adapted in numerous ways, it has very little tutorial in the game. Players, must therefore read and engage with literacy in order to learn and improve in the Minecraft ecosystem.

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Players of Minecraft engage with 'how to's' and 'walk throughs'. These texts can include technical and challenging vocabulary.

The children rise to the challenge of these texts because they are genuinely motivated. They want create fantastic Minecraft creations and therefore they must complete the reading task.

Genuine Challenge

This genuine challenge is the key to developing children's reading ability. They also have a series of pre-existing connections in their learning that they can use to support in the reading task. This is much more valuable learning opportunity than throwing any old reading to our students.

How can it develop writing?

The ecosystem that surrounds these types of games includes a genuine community of support. One where you are praised for contributing 'how to's' and 'walkthroughs', one where you are involved in commenting and improving other individuals support manuals.

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Our children and students have a genuine reason to read and write. We can support this by encouraging their engagement in these games and ecosystems surrounding the games.