New Israeli start-up set to expand Minecraft Education in Israeli, US schools

Arcademy, a new Israeli start-up integrating Minecraft Education into school curriculums, will launch in schools across Israel and the United States next year following successful implementations in Petah Tikva, according to Alex Gold, the company’s CEO.

Nine schools in Petah Tikva participated in the two-month program, where teachers and students used the platform for two to four hours a week. All participants reported extremely positive feedback, enabling Arcademy’s rapid expansion, Gold explained.

The company provides teachers with an easy-to-use interface to efficiently operate Minecraft Education in their classrooms. Minecraft Education, launched in 2016, is an educational version of the game designed for classroom use.

During market research, Gold and his co-founders realized that few educators took advantage of Minecraft Education because it was inaccessible and difficult to operate or understand without prior knowledge of the game. They then set out to build a simple platform for teachers of all technology experience levels to run and manage Minecraft Education lessons.

“We are the tool that integrates Minecraft Education into a user-friendly platform so that the teacher can easily find the content relevant to their lesson, and then in one-click they can connect all their students to the game,” Gold said. “We remove the necessity for the teacher to understand how to play Minecraft.”

Gold noted that they launched the initial program in Petah Tikva in collaboration with the Innovation House because it was the leading city in Israel for using Minecraft in classrooms. 

Petah Tikva Mayor Rami Greenberg expressed his support for the company in an Arcademy press release. 

“The education system in Petah Tikva embraces educational innovation, interesting initiatives, and original projects. We believe that the collaboration with Arcademy will benefit students and all partners involved,” Greenberg said in the release. 

The platform is for children and teenage students

The platform, designed for K-12 students, also includes live-performance monitoring so teachers can track their students’ progress, as well as tools for lesson planning.

Gold said he is thrilled at the outcomes of the Petah Tikva integration program.

“All the teachers say they’re willing and will use the platform next year on a much more regular basis,” Gold said. “They are amazed with the time it’s saved them.”

One primary school teacher in Petah Tikva, Karina Batat, echoed these positive sentiments, describing the platform as “super easy” to use.

Batat, who also works as an innovation technology leader at START, has used Minecraft Education since 2018. She believes that Minecraft has several benefits for students' educational development. 

According to Batat, Minecraft helps students grow their creativity and enhances their problem solving and multitasking skills. The game also boosts resilience and Batat has seen her students significantly improve in certain subjects, like math, using Minecraft Education. 

“It’s not like learning from a textbook or from a teacher, it’s learning by doing,” Batat said. “It's a great platform, and I think that if I have the power to bring teachers to try it, I will do it.” 

Gold, who has previous experience as a gaming consultant, came up with the idea for Arcademy after he did a project with Yad Vashem where he helped a group of kids build a recreation of the museum in Minecraft. This opened his eyes to the power of using Minecraft for educational purposes.

Arcademy officially launched in September 2023 and has been in development since January. Next year, with plans to expand to schools across Israel and the US, Gold hopes to continue Arcademy’s growth. 

“Our vision is to be the bridge between popular video games and the schools because right now where schools fail the most is to captivate students,” Gold said.