Sandbox video games and their potential educational use

Minecraft and other similar games could develop young people's cognitive abilities.

Video games sandbox such as the well-known Minecraft have not only been a real phenomenon in the world of youtubersThey also have an important educational potential.

In this article we will explore the Wide range of pedagogical possibilities they present.

The precedents: games in real environments

It is well known that games have been part of human civilization since its earliest origins and in all cultures and societies (Gértrudix Barrio and Gértrudix Barrio, 2013), forming an element of interactivity between young people and adults, through which they have been educated and have learned.

Throughout the centuries, the game has been changing at the same time as all the different cultures and societies have changed.The games were adapted to the material and cultural characteristics of these and adopted very heterogeneous modalities and types among them.

To give an illustrative example, a few decades ago, a large part of the elderly grew up in a rural environment in which games involved grazing animals, such as cows or sheep, since on many occasions they had practically no objects to play with other than common objects, animals and imagination. Over the years and with the advent of industrialization and mass production, young people moved from playing with common objects to playing with dolls and toys, which later introduced small electronic elements that produced sounds or small movements.

Nowadays, thanks to the strong development of new information and communication technologies (hereinafter called ICT), the methods and tools of gaming have evolved to adapt to this new era, just as they have done over the previous centuries. This means that the human being evolves and all the elements that surround him also evolve.Therefore, we must understand that the young people of this new era are used to coexist and grow up habitually using ICT.

The arrival of the pedagogical video game

A basic element of play for today's young people is video games. As was the case with traditional game modalities, we can also educate them through this new tool (which is increasingly followed and used), and also encourage the autonomous teaching of a wide variety of contents, sometimes of considerable complexity.of considerable complexity.

The sandbox video game

Within the wide range of video game genres, all of which can offer us different ways to learn and enhance cognitive skills, there is a genre that stands out among them all due to the countless possibilities it can offer: sandbox video games. sandbox type.

This genre of video games is known for offering its players an open world with great possibilities of modification and creation of the environment, in addition to following a non-linear storyline, where the objectives are often set by the player himself, thus allowing him the opportunity to enhance his creativity, encouraging self-narration and the construction of stories and experiences. If to this cocktail we add the social part that they usually include, this type of videogames become a great tool to promote learning, creativity and, of course, tocreativity and, of course, fun.

The limits are set by oneself

Under this new perspective that brings us this video game genre where the limits are set by the user's imagination, new possible applications of these games in education and teaching arise, both outside and inside the classroom both outside and inside the classroom, giving rise to experiments carried out by communities of educators who use a sandbox video game, the so-called Minecraft, in schools, to realize and demonstrate the benefits generated by the use of these applications.

The impact of this sandbox video game is of such magnitude that there is an extensive community, both in Spain and abroad, which is dedicated to study and implement dedicated to studying and implementing Minecraft in classrooms to encourage the involvement of to encourage the involvement of students in the learning of certain contents and in the promotion of creativity and autonomous learning.

Education and entertainment go hand in hand

As a result of the study of the use of video games for these purposes, the term "edutainment" was born. edutainment (Gértrudix Barrio and Gértrudix Barrio, 2013), the result of the union of the word "education" and "entertainment", on which several investigations have emerged that have demonstrated the great results obtained with the educational use of immersive digital environments, i.e., sandbox-type video games, which in the words of Sorathia and Servidio (2012): "offer a place for the empirical application of constructivist theory".

Among the results of this research, the quality of the learning process stands out.The quality of the learning process, as it allows students to acquire different perspectives of phenomena and experience multiple situations in which they acquire knowledge easily transferable to real life (Aldrich, 2009), (Dede, 2009), (Kapp and O'Driscoll, 2010). These teaching applications are possible thanks to the non-linearity of this genre of video games, which makes it easier for the teacher or trainer to customize and shape the objectives of the game in order to produce a learning and fun experience for the students.

Beyond the classroom

Despite the possible uses that can and are being made by teachers in many areas of the world, the educational applications of sandbox video games such as Minecraft are not limited solely and exclusively to the classroom environment under adult supervision. In fact, the simple and apparent playful use of these video games has a strong educational potential for young people.In most cases, the content of these video games and the possibilities they offer are often very applicable to real life, so that what at first glance may seem like a simple game can become a surprisingly educational experience.

In addition, both directly and indirectly, the player will be forced to make use of his imagination and therefore to train his capacity for creativity, which should be a key element of the game.which should be a top priority in compulsory education.

Another great advantage of the use of sandbox video games is that the vast majority of them are usually accompanied by an extensive community of online players who promote, through complex codes of conduct, prosocial activity and a feeling of inclusion regardless of the socioeconomic differences of the players; so that they end up being, to use the expression: "simulators of good citizenship", providing an extra value to the educational experience resulting from their use.

Bibliographical references:

• Aldrich, C. (2009). Learning online with games, simulations and virtual worlds: Strategies for online instruction. San Francisco : Jossey-Bass, 2009.
• Dede, Ch. (2009). "Immersive Interfaces for Engagement and Learning". Science, Vol. 323, pp. 66-69.
• Gértrudix Barrio, M. and Gértrudix Barrio, F. (2013). Learning by playing. Open immersive worlds as learning spaces for young people. Revista de estudios de juventud, 101, pp. 123-137.
• Kapp, K. M & O’Driscoll, T. (2010). Learning in 3D: Adding a new dimension to enterprise learning and collaboration. s.l. : Pfeiffer.
• Kaviar, S. (2013). Using Minecraft in the Classroom. Progressive Education Network National Conference: Los Ángeles.
• Sorathia, K. & Servidio, R. (2012). “Learning and Experience: Teaching Tangible Interaction & Edutainment”. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 64, pp. 265-274.