Minecraft Joins The Teaching Profession

Virtual world-building game Minecraft is being used to teach children molecular chemistry.

17:45 06 November 2015

A group of students from Hull University has created an educational version of Minecraft, a virtual world-building game, to teach children about molecular structures and chemistry.

 

Minecraft players use building blocks to create structure and landscapes. With the new version, they can have fun and learn at the same time in an interactive way.

 

The students worked together with Joel Mills, the university’s Minecraft expert, and Dr Mark Lorch, a senior lecturer in biological chemistry.

 

Dr Lorch said: "Minecraft is a fabulous tool for exploring structures of buildings, landscapes and even anatomy.

 

"So why not molecules? We showed it to a class of children the other day and there were lots of wows and gasps.

 

"This just really grabs their attention. It is a really novel way of engaging them and delivering information to them."

 

To make the game more interesting, the students also created other surprises for children to roam around and find.

 

Dr Lorch said: "You can just explore and read the info about the molecules. But there are also a whole load of treasure chests dotted around filled with goodies, puzzles and quiz books.

 

"Some are easy to find, others are fiendishly difficult. If you locate them all then you'll probably have learned a fair bit of chemistry on the way."