This isn’t the first time that Minecraft has been used to teach children about real-life science. With many summer camps canceled this year due to COVID-19, Fleming Tech Camps offered kids the opportunity for an online summer camp. For Minecraft, the camp is promising to teach kids about the science of roller coasters and architecture.

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UWE Bristol now wants to use Minecraft to help educate children about diabetes, even if they don’t own the game. With its ‘Building our understanding of diabetes with Minecraft’ project, young players have the opportunity to walk through an interactive model of the human body, learning about the various processes that occur when someone has diabetes.

There’s no need to fear for families who don’t own a copy of Minecraft however. The good people behind the project have also included a slideshow that can be used as a standalone experience. The slideshow even includes a few creative educational tools using real-life building toys like LEGOs.

It’s very clear that the heads of the project, Dr. Laura Hobbs and Sophie Bentley, have put a tremendous amount of effort into this idea. In their write up for the project, they say “We know Minecraft can act as a hook for children to engage with science topics, and that by participating in our sessions they can increase their subject knowledge and understanding, making it an effective tool for both catching children’s interest, and supporting their learning.”

It’s no surprise that Minecraft can be used to effectively captivate children’s interest. Recently, the game surpassed 200 million copies sold, further solidifying its place as the best-selling game of all time. And even more recently than that, it was chosen as one of the 2020 inductees for the World Video Game Hall of Fame. It just goes to show that games can be both entertaining and educational at the same time.

Minecraft is available now mobile devices, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.

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Source: UWE Bristol