Esports are transforming not just sporting experience in the digital era, but are helping create the next generation of town planners and engineers, according to a technology expert.
Far from being "just a game", year 6-9 students are learning collaboration, communication, and compromise through esports, says Jo Nicol, professional learning manager at New Zealand tech company Cyclone.
"There is a stigma attached to esports," she says. "A lot of people still think of it as a game, when in fact it's a viable opportunity for students to be involved in something that's not a 'traditional' sport like rugby and football.
"It is not just creating the Jonah Lomus and Sophie Pascoes of tomorrow, but the town planners and engineers as well," she says.
Cyclone is rolling out Microsoft's Minecraft:Education Edition (M:EE) to teachers across New Zealand through its esports Teacher Induction Programme. Nicol says the aim of the programme was to challenge preconceived notions that gaming is a solitary practice and to highlight the skills students can gain from getting involved.
Last year, 90 teachers from 73 schools enrolled in the programme and after completing it they were eager to develop their skillsets further. So, over the past few months, Minecraft experts from Cyclone have been visiting schools to help educate teachers on new resources, offering ongoing training and support so teachers and students alike can experience the full depth of the curriculum benefits.
Since implementing esports, teachers have been using M:EE to teach subjects throughout the curriculum whether that's rebuilding ancient Egypt and learning how the Egyptians lived or bringing a creative writing scene to life. They say the improvement in learning has been exponential.
"Implementing Minecraft has positively ignited the school year. Students are engaged, their attention is captured, they want to be at school and learn and do the work," says Anna Duncan, a teacher at one of the schools, Chisnallwood Intermediate in Christchurch.
"Kids that never really show any enthusiasm towards learning and often disengage are now getting involved," she says. "They're asking really great questions about the topics we're teaching through Minecraft and their understanding has noticeably improved."
And they're even building actual communities.
At Chisnallwood, the focus for this term has been on 'community'. Being located less than one kilometre from the Red Zone (an abandoned residential area demolished by the 2011 Christchurch earthquake), the teachers decided to create a project for students that would not only give back to the city community but teach them how to act as one.
With the help of Cyclone M:EE global mentor Nathan Scott, they built an exact replica of the land, photographed the Red Zone and then overlaid it into the Minecraft world using coding. The students even created an algorithm of their own.
Once the initial lay of the land was set up, the students were split into groups and each team was tasked with producing a proposal for how the people of Christchurch could use the space. Among the ideas they brainstormed were infrastructures from sports facilities to homeless shelters to campgrounds with sustainable gardens.
"It's not a game, it's a tool for education," says Iva Hamilton, the school's deputy principal. "There is a need for communication with digital tools that I didn't expect, and the kids learnt that too."
Next on the agenda for the school is building animal kingdoms to expand students' thinking around habitats and wildlife survival. Other teachers who went through the Cyclone programme are working towards holding inter-school esports competitions, while there's already talk of a global build challenge.
"Gone are the days when only the fastest, strongest or fittest could become sports champions," says Lydia Kronawetter, Microsoft Education Industry Executive. "With esports, every schoolkid can be a star – and the teachers are having just as much fun."
To find out more go to education.minecraft.net