While there has been a trend for education-as-entertainment in computer software for as long as there have been home computers, most games considered educational are blatantly so, stressing the educational aspect hard enough that the entertainment is often lost. In recent years, however, the block-construction-and-destruction game "Minecraft" has attained an unexpected potential as an educational tool, both through the ability to add modifications and extensions, and through the ability to use those modifications and extensions in a wide variety of ways. The panel will explore the ways in which Minecraft can be used as a tool for teaching and learning, while still retaining its flavor of being a game.
