Utilization of Minecraft in Physical Therapy Education
Purpose: To demonstrate the use of Minecraft: Education Edition as an active learning method utilized for the understanding of foundational science concepts in Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program curricula.
Description: Minecraft worlds depicting concepts related to major histocompatibility antigens, hematopoietic stem cell differentiation and innate immunity were crafted by the course instructor. An example world illustrating hematopoietic stem cell differentiation is available for download and review. Students (33) currently enrolled in a DPT program Pathology course were given the opportunity to explore these worlds as an adjunct method for learning and interacting with the course's immunology content. Student usage statistics were tracked with the Blackboard online learning management system.
Summary of Use: Of the 33 students enrolled in the course, 23 downloaded and interacted with the Minecraft virtual worlds. The total number of Minecraft downloads made by these 23 students was 80. The number of downloads per student ranged from 1 to 10 (M=4.0, SD=2.5) over a 40 day period. Student comments indicated that they enjoyed learning using Minecraft and that the virtual worlds helped them to visualize cellular and subcellular immunology concepts.
Importance to Members: Minecraft: Education Edition is an online gaming platform that is available as a free download for anyone with a Microsoft OneDrive account1. Minecraft employs 3-dimensional graphics that allow the user to be fully immersed in a virtual environment. There is a growing body of evidence in the literature supporting the use of Minecraft to help students remain engaged while actively learning various types of educational content2-4. Interestingly, a recent study documented the improvement of hippocampal memory through the use of Minecraft exploration5. However, there is currently no information published documenting the use of Minecraft in DPT program curricula. Results presented here demonstrate that Minecraft can be effectively used to aid student understanding of basic science concepts. Additionally, Minecraft is a novel method for incorporating active learning into DPT program foundational science classes.