Studies show that employers are increasingly seeking graduates who can code, problem-solve and think in systems – yet the pipeline feeding that demand is faltering.
According to research by Science & Technology Australia, the workforce is expected to need 24% more bachelor-qualified STEM workers by 2035, with just 37% of Year 10 students meeting the national ICT literacy proficient standard in 2025.
Amid this demand, some experts suggest that gaming could help close that gap, providing an accessible and engaging pathway into the kinds of skills that underpin STEM careers.
In classrooms across Australia, the UK, New Zealand and the U.S, platforms like Roblox are helping to develop students' technical and transferable skills.
Dr Adam Seldow, Senior Director of Education Partnerships at Roblox, started his career as a secondary school mathematics teacher. Since then, he has received a PhD in Education from Harvard and spent more than 20 years working across schools, education technology and digital learning, giving him an in-depth perspective on how young people learn and engage with STEM.
Below, The Educator speaks to Dr. Adam Seldow, Senior Director of Education Policy at Roblox about the shift from digital consumption to creation, where Roblox genuinely fits into STEM classrooms, the evidence behind gaming and digital skills, and whether gamification helps or risks student wellbeing.
TE: Drawing from your 20+ years of experience in working across schools, what do you see as the most important trends in digital learning in K-12 education that should be top of mind for Australian school leaders in 2026, and is there anything that schools should be doing differently to ensure that the education they provide aligns with what these trends are saying?
One of the biggest shifts we’re seeing is the move from students as users of technology to students as creators. Young people aren’t just being entertained by digital technologies, they’re building with them. Whether that’s coding, designing games, collaborating with friends to create digital worlds, or using AI to help bring their ideas to life, students are both having fun, and building.
Another important trend is the growing recognition that resilience, creative problem-solving and systems thinking are all muscles to train and build. In well-designed digital experiences, failure isn’t something to avoid, its data. Students test, iterate, improve and try again. Those are the same skills they’ll need in the workforce.
For educators, the opportunity is to move beyond teaching technical skills in isolation. Learning coding syntax or digital creation tools without a real-world application can feel disconnected. When students are building something meaningful, they naturally develop technical, creative and communication skills. This is the environment in which many students thrive.
Combining strong learning goals with opportunities for creation, experimentation and authentic problem solving, while ensuring those experiences are delivered within safe, age-appropriate digital environments, can be a powerful way to teach STEM topics in a really engaging way.
TE: The Schools Theme of National Science Week 2026 was "Seeds of Science: Nurturing knowledge for all". Where does a platform like Roblox earn its place in a STEM classroom, and where's the line between genuine skill-building and just letting kids play games?
Roblox supplements STEM learning by giving young people opportunities to explore, create and experiment in ways that feel meaningful to them.
Roblox’s education team curates an online Learning Hub, where both educators and young people can discover games aligned to different subjects and age groups that encourage students to engage with these topics in active, hands-on ways. For example, here you will find games such as Mission to Mars, developed with the Boston Museum of Science and NASA, which challenges learners to think about gravity, engineering constraints, resource management and problem-solving while embarking upon immersive engineering missions on the planet Mars.
Equally important is the opportunity to create. When young people build games with Roblox Studio, they're learning much more than coding. They're combining computational thinking, creativity, design, storytelling and increasingly AI-assisted problem solving to bring their vision to life.
The distinction between meaningful learning and simply playing games comes down to purpose. The most effective games have clear goals and encourage learners to apply knowledge, solve problems, test ideas and iterate based on feedback. In that sense, platforms like Roblox can complement what students are learning in school by giving them opportunities to practice and apply STEM concepts in environments that feel engaging, relevant and authentic to them.
As online gaming continues to evolve, Roblox is also investing in new ways to help young people discover age-appropriate games through features such as age-based accounts for under 16s, Roblox Kids and Roblox Select.
TE: The 2025 Australia Plays study found that 91% of kids and adults shared the belief that video games can help build digital/ICT skills, but only 37% of Year 10 students are meeting the proficient standard in this area. What's the strongest evidence that gaming genuinely builds those skills, rather than just feeling like it does?
Learning and play are critically entwined. Play has always been one of the most natural ways people learn, experiment and develop new skills. Well-designed games can encourage players to think critically, navigate constraints, manage resources and solve complex challenges. Experiences like these help develop the kind of systems thinking that underpins digital and ICT skills.
Of course, not every gaming experience will build digital skills in the same way. For digital and ICT skills in particular, we see the strongest evidence when young people move beyond simply consuming content and start creating. When a student designs a game, builds an experience or uses technology to bring an idea to life, they are drawing on a broad range of skills to achieve a real outcome.
One of the most valuable lessons young people learn through game creation is the importance of iteration. Creators can take an idea, bring it to life, publish it, and then continuously improve it based on feedback from their community. The process of reacting, iterating, rebuilding and reconstructing not only strengthens technical and creative skills but also helps build adaptability and confidence.
In a technology rich society, we need to provide more opportunities for young people to apply digital skills in authentic contexts where digital capability can move from theory into practice.
TE: Nearly 90% of young adults say gaming helps them destress and connect. Should schools be leaning into gamification for student wellbeing, or is there a risk of blurring the line between healthy screen use and something schools shouldn't be encouraging?
So many of the people who enjoy Roblox aren’t just gaming to have fun. Gaming offers spaces to play, explore, connect and learn which is why a lot of young people gravitate towards them and get so much out of those experiences.
However, learning requires intentional design to be built into the game experience. The opportunity isn't to introduce gamification for gamification's sake. Simply adding game mechanics to an experience doesn't automatically create engagement or learning outcomes.
The real value comes when game-based experiences are intentionally designed to support a specific outcome, whether that's learning, skill development, collaboration or wellbeing. When that purpose is clear, games can help make learning more relevant, interactive and meaningful for young people.
It’s also important that parents feel comfortable with how their kids engage with online games.
For teachers and parents who are new to Roblox, Family Zone provides a useful starting point. Designed as a co-play experience, it enables teachers and young people to explore the platform together, while giving students the opportunity to guide adults through the experience.