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Cyberpunk is already here: schoolchildren study at Minecraft, and students take physical tests in CS: GO

Over a billion people in the world are now sitting on self-isolation. Schools and universities are closed, and teachers and students are trying to establish training online.

It turns out, frankly, so-so, because many were simply not ready for such a sharp transition to online. But some teachers, schoolchildren and students use the situation and find ingenious ways out of this situation.

In this article, we have collected several cases that show that creativity and ingenuity will save the world.



Math lesson in Half-Life: Alyx


Most recently, Valve released the long-awaited Half-Life: Alyx, a sequel to the legendary series. The game is published for VR platforms, which guarantees a high level of immersion.

And so that players do not get bored and enthusiastically explore the game world, Valve added a large number of interactive elements to the game. For example, a piano where you can play.


Another interesting point was the color markers in the greenhouse, which you can actually draw on the glass. The developers really got confused with this trifle.

Charles Cumber, a professor of mathematics at the Academy of Arts in San Diego, California, decided these markers could be used for more than just pampering.

He simply took and recorded a math lesson in Half-Life: Alyx. He lectured as if in a real lesson and drew examples on the glass of a greenhouse using markers. The experiment was so successful that the video instantly became viral.


The video was uploaded to YouTube on March 24, 2020. And it has already gained over half a million views.

The result was a very interesting lesson, which, due to its surroundings, will definitely be productive among seventh graders (namely, it was for them that it was recorded). Moreover, in the comments to the video there are a lot of enthusiastic comments from adults like: “Just this dude made me watch a math lesson for seventh grade”.

Charles Coomber is currently testing various VR applications that have similar mechanics. The success of the lesson in Half-Life: Alyx prompted him to write a little more than one lesson.

Here's another lesson from Charles. Now on the Google Tilt Brush platform.


That is, now VR-games are becoming an adequate substitute for classical training in classrooms. And in conditions of self-isolation, even they can be considered almost the only option that is guaranteed to keep the attention of schoolchildren and their motivation for learning.

Physical Test in Dota 2 or Counter-Strike


Exercising at home is not very fun. And given that most students do not have any sports equipment at home, it is completely impossible.

ITMO University of St. Petersburg entered the position of students and allowed to receive points for offset in physical education using e-sports. In particular, CS: GO, Dota 2 and, unexpectedly, the mobile Clash Royal.

The initiator of this innovation was the University’s e-sports club called “Kronverksky Leopards”. And the administration unexpectedly supported him.

As a result, students can now receive points for offset, playing in CS and Dota 2, as well as participating in tournaments. The higher the skill and the higher the place in the rating, the more points the student receives.

Enthusiasts took the project organization quite seriously. For students who have never played CS and Dota 2 at all, they offer tutoring classes. And for those who already know the mechanics of games, general training and internal tournaments.

Here is the project page itself.



It is not yet clear whether such an initiative has a future. But most students reacted very positively to her and now the project is actively supported by e-sportsmen.

Graduation in Minecraft and not only


Because of the coronavirus, schools canceled not only classes, but also ceremonies. And for Japanese schoolchildren, graduations are held just in mid-March.

But the graduates of the elementary school did not reconcile, and with this they arranged a graduation in Minecraft.

The father of one of the children built a school assembly hall in Minecraft. And at the appointed time, the children just went to one server. And there they were waiting for the solemn presentation of certificates.

And everything was natural. The teacher made a short speech, and then everyone took turns on stage.

Here is the video from the ceremony:


This is not the first time that Minecraft is used not just for entertainment, but for training and other important events.

Microsoft has even launched a separate platform where Minecraft is used for training called Minecraft: Education Edition . Microsoft, by the way, opened free access to the project until June 2020. To get it, you just need to submit an application.

The platform provides special gaming opportunities for teachers who can create their own worlds to visualize lessons. At the same time, Minecraft can be used for almost any subject: history, geography, design, programming, chemistry, physics, biology.

In addition, the developers have already provided a large toolkit with 50 ready-made lessons in mathematics, programming, design, chemistry and a separate pool of tools for holding class hours. In total, the project is designed for more than 170 hours. Here is the official tutorial for the project.

Well there, even English can be learned using Minecraft. For children from 6 to 14 years old, this is an ideal tool that helps to maintain involvement and interest in the subject of instruction. We also teach the language of schoolchildren and even preschoolers, so we are happy to follow the successes of our colleagues in this field.

You can learn vocabulary in Minecraft.



You can even create whole quests for the passage of which children will learn individual words and phrases.


Essentially, Minecraft is a huge sandbox in which anything is possible. And the scale of the training program depends only on the imagination of the teacher.

Thanks to the Internet and computers, there are now a huge number of opportunities for learning at home. And this is awesome. You can not pore over textbooks, but to learn a language in a game is more interesting and much more effective.

We ourselves actively use gamification during training, so we know what we are talking about. Learn with pleasure!

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