Michael Vorster

When Michael Vorster was doing his Honour’s degree at Stellenbosch University, he unexpectedly came across Minecraft. He was looking for a game-based platform to help with teaching second languages and while the education edition of Minecraft wasn’t widely used, he thought it could be a useful tool. Teaching grade eight language classes at the time, he saw it as a platform his students already knew and were excited about. For Vorster’s Master’s degree, he wanted to focus on coding and robotics. “But there’s a double-edged sword when it comes to conventional robotic kits,” he says. LEGO Mindstorm sets, for example, are prohibitively expensive. “The new Lego SPIKE kits aren’t any cheaper, but, also, keeping those little pieces and everything together is a mission as a teacher.”

Learning to code with Lego is hands-on and Vorster says many pupils found it challenging. For teachers, it’s daunting. Inspired by his initial postgraduate degree, Vorster decided to focus his research on Minecraft Education to see if it could help promote pupil engagement through behavioural, social and cognitive dimensions. “What I found is that because Minecraft is a tool learners are already familiar with, they were more likely to engage with a game-based tool that promotes creativity,” he says.