Teachers Are Now Incorporating Popular Video Game Minecraft In Teaching Students Biochemistry Through 'MolCraft' World
A group of biochemistry students at the University of Hull in London has generated a Minecraft world that is now being incorporated in class discussions to teach children about biochemistry.
Aptly titled MolCraft, a word play of "Molecules in Minecraft", allows students to explore the structures of essential proteins, Popular Science wrote Tueday.
Through MolCraft, students are introduced to 3D renderings of proteins, showing their molecular structure as well as their atoms and chemical bonds. In looks similar to the traditional ball-and-stick model used in lectures on chemistry, but much like Minecraft you can chop up these protein structures to uncover its internal architecture. The game also comes with an explanation of how each part functions.
MolCraft was developed by Mark Lorch and Joe Mills, researchers from the University of Hull, and is supported by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Lorch said the idea for MolCraft was inspired by the current trend of using Minecraft as new teaching technique, Motherboard reported Sunday.
Wired noted Tuesday that the MolCraft world was created using molecular structures and models of proteins from an online database and imported them into Minecraft.
The game is filled with treasure chests to keep students entertained. These treasure chests could contain books that come with mini-quizzes to check on what students' have learned while exploring MolCraft.
"They generated this world that was populated with all these structures and then incorporated a scavenger hunt dotted around the world with treasure chests. If they read all the materials, clues, and books, it will help them find those treasure that are around there," said Lorch.
Use of MolCraft in class discussions is a big leap from the typical PowerPoint presentations used by teachers to visualize and explain molecular structures. And because children are already familiar with Minecraft, it makes it easier to grab their attention in class.
"Imagine a science lesson where the class is let lose in Minecraft with instructions to find a set of objects hidden on key parts of molecules," the researchers said. "Upon retrieving them the teacher will know which molecules each student has explored and what questions they may have answered to find the objects. All this time, the children think they have just been playing a game."
Minecraft users with licensed copies of the game may download MolCraft from University of Hull's official website or connect to the MolCraft server through molcraft.nitrous.it.
