Screen time—or the amount of time a student spends in front of a computer or other device–is hitting new records across the educational spectrum. Preschoolers are in front of a screen an average of 120 minutes per day, elementary school aged children are even higher, and it’s projected to rise in coming years.

As these numbers continue to increase, the potential for education has not gone unnoticed by teachers, as well as parents. In the iTunes app store, three-fourths of top selling applications were targeted at pre and elementary aged school children. Most of these applications are used in the home, not in school settings.

At a recent talk put on by Future Tense (a collaboration between Slate, New America Foundation, and ASU) a panel of leaders in the study of elementary education and technology spoke about the changes occurring in early childhood learning. The panelists included Joel Levin-“The Minecraft Teacher”, Creator of “Super Why!” Alice Wilder, and Annie Murphy Paul –Schwartz Fellow with the New America Foundation and the Author of Brilliant: The Science of Smart.  Though educational technology is nothing new, it is less common in K-5 classrooms than in higher grade levels. Much of the educational technology in use for the K-5 age group is used in the home, and it’s mainly comprised of games. According to Paul, the problem with educational games is that many are simply “chocolate covered broccoli” with a fancy coating obscuring traditional ‘boring’ learning models.

Levin discussed his time in the classroom working with Minecraft, a game many elementary school age children already know and love. What’s unique about Minecraft is that it is not inherently educational, nor was it designed to be. It was created to get kids to play and have fun, and it’s classroom adaptation has proved much more successful than Levin predicted.

Several examples of Minecraft being applied in the classroom were covered in the panel. In the game, players mine and create buildings, cities, and more. Multiple students can use it together, to build lifelike digital models of historical sites including the Acropolis and the Alamo. It sparks conversation about digital citizenship, related to how users interact in the game.  Discussing the game in a classroom setting helps students and teachers monitor and filter out inappropriate or intrusive online social behaviors.  New applications are being built, which add to the basic game and adapt it for classroom or educational use.

When teachers think outside of the traditional educational game space, there is huge potential to adapt games children are already interested in. Intrinsic learning, or learning for learning’s sake, is a key element of the intellectual growth of elementary and preschool children. As they grow older, this unique thirst for knowledge tends to diminish in classroom settings. If teachers can keep learning fun, as opposed to making it a chore, children will stay interested in technology. Adapting games they already like so they can have fun while learning is a key to keeping them engaged.

Lindsay Harman is Market and Policy Analyst for the SIIA Education Division.