Today, Microsoft and Xbox releases educational podcasts for kids for a number of Xbox Game Pass titles, from Sea of Thieves to Minecraft.
The aim? To boost “key soft skills” in children, including decision making, strategy and teamwork.
As a dad with a 10 year old who plays Minecraft, Sea of Thieves and Grounded fairly regularly, this sounds like something that should be right up his alley, and certainly a lot more educational that the stuff he currently watches on YouTube kids.
What Games are involved?
The full list of games for these Educational Podcasts for kids, and their learning focus are as follows:
- Grounded – Problem Solving & Analytical Thinking
- Sea of Thieves – Teamwork and Delegation
- Minecraft – Creativity and Innovation
- Microsoft Flight Simulator – Focus and Diligence
- PowerWash Simulator – Motivation and Prioritisation
- Age of Empires IV – Strategy and Decision making
- Cities: Skylines – Planning and Adaptability
The learning journeys themselves were developed by a team that included teachers, game narrative designers, educational technology specialists and child psychologists. Xbox then partnered with Ukie’s Digital Schoolhouse to bring these audio learning podcasts to it’s broader network – which apparently reaches 200,000+ young people in thousands of schools across the UK.
You can find each podcast available on Spotify, so that everyone in the family can get involved, and even teachers too. The audio journeys will prompt listeners to take on a series of challenges, and with any luck, the kids listening will learn something along the way.
Where can I listen?
You can listen to the various audio journeys right here on Spotify.
You’ll find the full press release below:
Xbox partners with Ukie’s Digital Schoolhouse to launch Beyond Xbox: Field Trips, a series of interactive learning experiences to help young people learn through play, available on Spotify
Studies have found that video games can help develop young people’s life skills like problem-solving, team building, communication, and analytical thinking, all of which are vital for their development. Xbox has taken these findings to launch ‘Beyond Xbox: Field Trips’, a first-of-its-kind series of audio learning journeys based on seven popular Xbox Game Pass titles, including Minecraft, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Sea of Thieves and Grounded.
Beyond Xbox: Field Trips are available on Spotify and have been developed by a team of teachers, game narrative designers, ed-tech specialists, and child psychologists.
Xbox has partnered with Ukie’s Digital Schoolhouse to bring the audio learning journeys to its network which collectively reaches 200,000 young people in 2,000 schools across the UK. It uses play-based learning to support over 15,000 teachers to inspire the next generation of pupils with the computing curriculum.
Ollie Bray, co-author of the European Games in Schools Handbook who was involved in the development of the programme said, “There is increasing evidence to suggest that play is one of the most powerful ways to learn. These interactive “Field Trips” allow young people to immerse themselves in both popular and culturally relevant video games while developing important skills and exploring a variety of learning outcomes. The project provides a unique take on experimental learning.”
Shahneila Saeed, Director of Digital Schoolhouse and Head of Education at Ukie said: “We’re very excited to be supporting such an original and unique program, using games to develop the skills of young people. I can’t wait to see how these audio learning journeys are implemented in our Digital Schoolhouse network over the coming months, and the impact that they will have.”
Each audio learning journey is available on Spotify and prompts players to undertake a series of challenges to help develop important soft skills. They can also be accessed as visual guides on Xbox.com to cater to different learning styles and make them more accessible. There are seven featured games which are all available on Xbox Game Pass:
- Grounded – Problem Solving & Analytical Thinking
- Sea of Thieves – Teamwork and Delegation
- Minecraft – Creativity and Innovation
- Microsoft Flight Simulator – Focus and Diligence
- PowerWash Simulator – Motivation and Prioritisation
- Age of Empires IV – Strategy and Decision making
- Cities: Skylines – Planning and Adaptability
Beyond Xbox: Field Trips is the third in the series of “Beyond” campaigns, demonstrating the positive impact video games have on people’s lives. The inaugural campaign, Beyond Generations, focused on combatting loneliness by helping older people strengthen their relationships with their younger family members through gaming, in partnership with Age UK. The second iteration, Beyond Xbox: A Player Like Me, demonstrated the power of video games in therapeutic settings by helping connect those with extremely rare diseases with one another. This included a partnership with Gamers Outreach which brought gaming to children in hospitals.
The Beyond Xbox: Field Trips campaign video showcases three families from across the UK using the learning experiences while playing some of Xbox’s most popular titles, here.
