Minecraft Day 2019, Lancaster Uni – 08 July 2019

July 10, 2019 | james

Had to believe an entire year has passed, but the project team was really pleased to have the opportunity to bring Minecraft Day back to campus. Showcasing work and research tha utilises Minecraf in some manner, the event was made possible by the generous support of the Alumni Fund.

Tailored for a slightly smaller cohort this year, we were delighted to welcome star creator, project friend, and Litcraft partner (more to be announced on that very soon!) Adam Clarke - aka Wizard Keen. And what a great event it was to host (with the added bonus of James' work on a project mascot finally being completed!)

 

 

Litcraft trialled our latest release for the first time publicly - a Swiss Family Robinson and Robinson Crusoe double-build. With a real focus on using the maps creatively, and engaging with place-names and naming, this is our strongest release yet. We were delighted to see how well the kids engaged with it - both the reading and the gameplay.

Science hunters similarly ran a new resource, topically focused on coral reefs, their troubled state and regeneration strategies - very powerful lessons. Chris Dixon wowed the kids with a VR set up. And Adam introduced the kids to workshop grand design builds, resulting in some very interesting concepts, as shown below, as well as skin and texture design.

Every session ran smoothly, and by all accounts the kids had a great day - and we couldn't have asked for better behaviour. Of course, we couldn't not end the day with a little gift bag - complete with Lego Minecraft minifig and themed stationary (the teachers were just as excited as the kids, haha!).

 

Thank you to all involved in helping the day prove such a success - and prove why engagement is so important for research - Dr Dawn Stobbart, the helpers, and the teachers for taking the time and effort to be able to attend.