April 16th, 2024– Bodacious, a strategy studio, with support from the Walton Family Foundation, released a first-of-its-kind report on how Generation Alpha’s use of creation gaming platforms is enhancing learning and supporting development. The research focused on the use patterns and perspectives among Generation Alpha, those born between 2010 and 2025, on creation gaming platforms Roblox and Minecraft.

The research reveals that Generation Alpha’s embrace of gaming has a potent impact on learning. It suggests these digital playgrounds could be harnessed as innovative educational tools. By integrating the principles of creation gaming into educational strategies, new pathways for engagement, skill development and academic achievement can be unlocked.

KEY FINDINGS

• Kids say that both Minecraft and Roblox help their cognitive development.

Kids who play and create on Roblox and Minecraft pointed to several "soft skills" and general skills they feel they’re actively learning. These include creativity and problem-solving, which are essential for navigating everyday life and are known to correlate with academic achievement.

• Roblox and Minecraft are character-building playgrounds for kids.

Young people associate building in, or for, Roblox and Minecraft with key skills understood to underpin character. These include creativity, growth mindset, proactivity, purpose and social intelligence. These skills are linked to wide-ranging positive outcomes, including academic performance and lifetime educational attainment, self-efficacy and life satisfaction.

• Kids want to see Roblox and Minecraft become a part of their formal education.

When asked if they’d like to learn curriculum subjects within Roblox or Minecraft, at least 7 in 10 children said an enthusiastic "yes"; particularly in relation to areas such as programming/coding, art or design. And more than one-third of kids think that Minecraft and Roblox should be used in school as a new method of learning and engagement.

REPORT ANALYSIS 

Every couple of decades, schools meet a new generation of students whose characteristics are shaped by their unique time, demanding changes in how education is delivered. Generation Alpha stands out as the largest generation in history, with numbers nearing 2 billion. This group is entering a world undergoing rapid changes, with more than 65% of them expected to work in jobs yet to exist. This is challenging current educational systems that are already lagging behind in meeting their needs for innovative and technology-integrated learning.

At the core of Generation Alpha's identity is their unprecedented technological proficiency and their natural inclination towards digital environments. This is especially evident in their engagement with creation-focused gaming—a realm where playing merges with making. This evolution from passive participation to active creation on platforms like Roblox and Minecraft is why Generation Alpha has been dubbed "the creation generation."

Their engagement in gaming is not just about inhabiting fantastical worlds but about constructing their own, thereby redefining gaming's role in education and creativity. This transformation signifies a broader educational revolution, with creation gaming fostering critical skills such as problem-solving, creativity and autonomy.

Our investigation into this trend reveals its potent impact on learning, suggesting that these digital playgrounds can be harnessed as innovative educational tools. By integrating the principles of creation gaming into educational strategies, we can unlock new pathways for engagement, skill development and academic achievement.

EXPERT PERSPECTIVES:

“Kids have a lot less ability to free play these days and be out of sight of adults, to experiment and make mistakes and whatever else. And maybe that's what creation gaming is. It’s replacing what would have been the playground or running off to the creek. And a structured video game is not that, right? Instead it gives them those opportunities for real unbridled play.” - Michael B Horn, Adjunct Professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education and Future Of Learning Advisory Board Chair at Guild Education

“Coming back from the pandemic, we've had kids who have spent one and a half, two years on self-motivated, self-driven learning on these platforms, devoted to their passions and interests.” - David Kleeman, SVP, Global Trends, Dubit

“The social learning aspects of Roblox are so important to us in our pursuit of educational experiences, we make it a requirement in the Roblox Community Fund that those aspects are built in, the games have to be team-based, it has to be a social learning experience because we see the benefits of students working together to accomplish a task as being very similar to people working together to accomplish goals in business, in healthcare, in every aspect of life, in government. And those skills are extremely difficult not only to teach, but to assess in traditional classrooms.” - Adam Seldow, Senior Director of Education Partnerships at Roblox

“How can we be coaches, mentors and facilitators of learning? We need to evolve quickly because young people are finding education boring. I've seen it. If they want to know the answer of how displacement works, they’ll go and look it up on YouTube. Or TikTok. Or even Minecraft. Wherever it's articulated they'll source that, so how do we facilitate that? Gaming is one of those places that people will turn to for teaching or better curriculum knowledge to fill in the gaps that otherwise are not being satisfied by school systems.” - Justin Edwards, Director Of Learning Experiences, Minecraft/Microsoft

METHODOLOGY

• These findings are based on an online survey of a nationally representative sample of 5- to 13-year-olds across the U.S., with 2,054 kids participating in total. 
• In line with best practices, parents of 5- to 7-year-olds asked their children the survey questions and entered the answers on their behalf. 
• In addition, there were 39 in-depth qualitative interviews, both face-to-face and remote, speaking to a range of kids aged 5-13 years, to dig into some of the insights surfaced in the survey.

ABOUT ROBLOX AND MINECRAFT

Roblox is pioneering immersive 3D experiences and Minecraft is opening up new frontiers for sandbox games. Both are at the heart of the 'creation gaming' movement, captivating a new generation of players known as 'the creation generation' due to their innovative engagement with game worlds.

These platforms stand out by allowing players not just to experience pre-designed adventures but to become architects of their own experiences. In these expansive virtual landscapes, the boundary between playing and creating dissolves, empowering users to construct elaborate worlds, design intricate games and script events—all within the game itself. This dual role as player and creator appeals to a wide audience, fostering creativity, collaboration and problem-solving skills.

Roblox and Minecraft have become more than games; they are vibrant communities and ecosystems where imagination and interaction pave the way for learning and innovation, symbolizing the shift toward interactive and participatory digital entertainment.

ABOUT BODACIOUS

Bodacious is a strategy studio focused on illuminating and navigating the new frontiers of innovation and emerging technologies within the worlds of brands and entertainment. Founded by Zoe Scaman, a strategist who has spent over 20 years in the worlds of advertising, film, gaming and sports. To learn more, visit bodacious.be or follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter.

ABOUT THE WALTON FAMILY FOUNDATION 

The Walton Family Foundation is, at its core, a family-led foundation. Three generations of the descendants of our founders, Sam and Helen Walton, and their spouses, work together to lead the foundation and create access to opportunity for people and communities. We work in three areas: improving education, protecting rivers and oceans and the communities they support, and investing in our home region of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta. To learn more, visit waltonfamilyfoundation.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.