April 14th, 2021
Andrés Porras
If you’re a teacher like me, you’ve likely heard your students debating this very question. Which is better: Minecraft or Roblox? You might hear students say that they like minecraft because you can build anything that you want, while others tell you that roblox lets you do different types of games. From a teacher point of view, you might be left wondering, what’s the better platform for me? Which one will help me teach the things I want to? At Coded-Minds we offer programs that use both Minecraft and Roblox, so we know a little bit about this issue! Here’s our thoughts.
The Case for Minecraft
As a learning platform, minecraft is the most robust out of the two. There’s pre-made lessons that you can use to teach things ranging from indigenous ways of knowing, math, science, and even social emotional pieces. In addition, it has a dedicated code-builder that uses Microsoft make-code to teach students the basics of block-based coding and allow students to step up into more complex coding languages like Python and JavaScript. If you’re a teacher that’s just starting your journey into STEM based practices, you might find this as a great place to start, but eventually, you may find your students are limited by some of the constraints of the game.
The Case for Roblox
Roblox, at its core, is meant to be customized. Users have a truly unlimited range of creative tools, as well as preset tutorials that they can use to follow and get them started. While Minecraft may have pre-built worlds, Roblox encourages students to build their own worlds with their own mechanics (Yes, I know minecraft does too, but not at the level of customizability offered by Roblox). In addition, their built-in coding language Lua is really easy to learn, and although it is not block-based, it is really much more forgiving than other scripts.
Final Thoughts
Roblox has seen a huge amount of growth, especially during the pandemic. It’s reputation as a safe platform with parents will allow it to continue investing in its experiences. With its move from a private to a public based company, it’s not unreasonable to believe that they’ll want to invest in more education-based strategies so even though they don’t have as much support for teachers as minecraft does at the moment, it could be that it could change. Luckily, if you’re a parent reading this you don’t have to choose! Coded-Minds has summer camps open with both Roblox and Minecraft Courses available.
Did you know Coded Minds is a pioneer in iSTEAM and one of the first companies to integrate it into their learning objectives and educational programs? To enrol your child in iSTEAM learning or learn how to integrate iSTEAM into your educational program or curriculum, CLICK HERE.
Andrés Porras