Minecraft is a movie and a very popular video game with iconic block graphics that characters can "mine" for building material and gems. It's also what cognitive scientist <a href="https://hmc-lab.com/people/charley_wu/index.md">Charley Wu</a> and his team utilized to study how people learned as they played. Their unique study focused on both individual and social learning — and they found a clear answer to which players were most successful. (Hint: Get you a player who can do both.) Their results were published recently in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-58365-6">Nature Communications</a>. Want to hear more about new science research? Let us know by emailing <a href="mailto:shortwave@npr.org">shortwave@npr.org</a>. Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at <a href="http://plus.npr.org/shortwave">plus.npr.org/shortwave</a>. Learn more about sponsor message choices: <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

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What Can Minecraft Teach Us About Learning?

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