Seventy pupils immersed themselves in the first-ever Minecraft day held at Lancaster University this week.

On Monday 9 July, 70 Year 6 and Year 7 pupils from 15 local schools took part in an event which aimed to bring English literature, science and computing to life using the virtual world of popular gaming platform, Minecraft.

Led by the Department of English Literature and Creative Writing, and working in conjunction with The University’s Lancaster Environment Centre, IT development team and the School of Computing, the event set the children a range of challenges on Minecraft, linked to various research projects across the University.

Throughout the day, the students explored the flagship magical world of Litcraft Treasure Island, took part in a scientific experiment to make a model volcano erupt before building a virtual model of the volcano on Minecraft; helped to build a virtual representation of the real Lancaster University campus in Minecraft and took part in a coding session.

Professor Sally Bushell, who heads the English Literature and Creative Writing Department, said: "We are delighted with our first ever Minecraft Day. The children have been so engaged and focussed in the sessions. For Litcraft the structure of connecting the literary and the digital has worked really well, particularly for reluctant readers".

“It’s also been a fantastic opportunity for us to get feedback on our project as it develops. We hope this will be the first of many similar events to excite children about reading, learning and what University life can offer.

James Butler, a Research Associate involved in the project, said: “It is heartening to see that word is getting out about this project. A parent turned up to our event today who home-schools her children, and wants to work with us. Feedback so far tells us there is definitely an appetite for using the mechanics of a game to make learning fun in an inventive and creative way. Before today, very few of the students had read Treasure Island, but after exploring the titular island in game, they may go home talking about it, and - ideally - wish to read the book in full. That is our hope and intent.”

Gareth Hamilton is the Head of Computing at Lancaster Royal Grammar School. He said: “The boys have been really engaged. It has been interesting to see the kind of draw that Minecraft has for them. The students have turned the tables on the teachers today – they know more about Minecraft than we do, which is good for them and good for us.”

Isaak Higgins is in Year 7 at Dallam School. He said: “I use Minecraft everyday so today has been really good. Fitting education in with games young people like is a really fun way of learning. I don’t like reading and English in school but it was ok in these activities.”

Sam is a year 7 pupil from the Royal Grammar School in Lancaster. He said: “Today has been pretty fun. I use Minecraft a lot at home and using it in an event like today makes it more fun – it interests children. You think you’re just having fun but you’re actually learning a lot.”

Izzy Lavender and Evelyn Worthington are Year 6 pupils from Dolphinholme Church of England School. Izzy said: “I have read Treasure Island but because it’s an older book people think it’s old and boring. I have used Minecraft at home but was shocked today when I realised we’d be using it here. It was interesting to have to use it to do a hunt rather than just build stuff – and seeing it linked to science and English.”

For Evelyn, this was the first time she had used Minecraft. She said: “I’ve never really played before but it was fun. Our teacher could never have explained a pyroclastic flow using Minecraft! These events explain more about the University and how it feels too - I want to be a marine biologist or conservationist so it was good to learn about LEC – I didn’t know about that before today.”

To find out more, or to get involved in the project, please contact Professor Sally Bushell: s.bushell@lancaster.ac.uk