From ores to precious stones: What do Brazilian theses and dissertations say about the game Minecraft? A state of the art from 2014 to 2024

Abstract

Electronic games are part of the reality of many students and have been used for educational purposes, this is the case of the game Minecraft. Launched in 2009, the game has more than 40 million players and has been used in educational research since its launch, in this sense this study analyzed theses and dissertations available in the Capes databases and the Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (BDTD) to understand how the game is being used in education. The procedures of Romanowski (2002) and the content analysis of Bardin (2016) were followed to organize, explore and interpret the collected material. 51 researches were analyzed, including theses and dissertations, found in the period from 2014 to 2024. We identified the ways in which the game was used in the research, the areas of study, the types of research, the data collection instruments and the levels of education. Finally, we conducted an analysis of the most cited authors in the surveys, as well as the most used references. We conclude that the game Minecraft has great potential for educational use, with several possibilities of application in different areas of knowledge, in addition to identifying possible paths for researchers who would like to use this game for educational purposes.