5 Reasons to Get More Girls Playing Minecraft

According to the National Center For Women and Informational Technology, girls make up 56 percent of all Advanced Placement test-takers but only 19 percent of AP computer science test-takers. By introducing girls to computers and all their facets — coding, programming, scripting — at a younger age, they may be more likely to tackle the male-dominated subject in the future.

Source: Mojang

Although more girls take advanced math classes in high school than boys, they are less likely to continue with the classes in college. If, however, they were to see how math is used in the real world, then perhaps they would stick with the subject. Minecraft shows players how mathematical concepts, from geometry to cost calculations, can be applied outside of the classroom.

Source: Mojang

From creating functional structures to designing their own Java modifications, Minecraft requires an assortment of skills — most of which can be used once the game is turned off. Learning these skills outside of the classroom can spark an interest in a field that your daughter may have never considered before, like architecture or information technology.

Source: Mojang

When kids are young, they tend to play with kids of their own gender. Minecraft, however, brings the boys and girls together. Not to mention the girls give boys some serious competition.

"I would say that the girls are actually outperforming the boys, at least in my class," Stephen Foster, founder of the coding course organization ThoughtSTEM, tells The New York Times of his Minecraft students. "And it's very good to see, because as computer scientists, we definitely recognize that there's a big gender disparity in our field."

Source: Mojang

One of the reasons girls shy away from the STEM subjects is that they have very few role models to turn to. That's how Rebecca Feldman, a seventh grader with an interest in coding, felt when she joined an after-school robotic team.

"I was one of two girls in the class," she tells The New York Times. "We kind of had to fend for ourselves." She almost called it quits until meeting Rebecca Garcia, a coder and cofounder of CoderDojo NYC. Garcia became an adult Feldman could turn to for help and inspiration.

By getting in on the computer game — literally and figuratively — your daughter could become a role model for future generations of girls. How cool does that sound?

Source: Mojang