Can playing Minecraft improve teenagers’ information literacy?

Abstract

Some research suggests that a significant number of Generation Z teenagers (those born in the late 1990s or early 2000s) display an insufficient level of information literacy (IL) to function effectively in an information-based society. Yet many of them are gamers who succeed at accomplishing game-related tasks that require a number of IL skills such as information seeking, the critical assessment of sources and relevance ranking of information. This paper describes the results of an interpretive case study of the information behaviours of teenage gamers that supports the hypothesis that the online game Minecraft supports the development of such IL skills. The online interactions of 510 participants of a public discussion forum on Minecraft and interviews from eight teenage Minecraft gamers, as well as the game itself, were analysed. This study suggest that some aspects of Minecraft’s design effectively induce players to seek out game-related information in affinity spaces (online informal learning spaces), select appropriate sources, evaluate the information shared by fellow gamers and decide which information best satisfies their needs.