Australian students will learn about the minerals industry and electric car assembly with the launch of the mine solar car lab, a new 3D digital game for Minecraft’s education edition.
The program was launched by the Minerals Council of Australia and the University of Queensland (UQ), creating an Australian first in the industry.
It allows primary and secondary school students to use the world-famous Minecraft education platform to work together to collect raw materials, then use the giant machines to build an electric car.
UQ mining engineering program leader Mehmet Kizil said the game would be accessible on Windows 10, iOS and Android devices.
“Teachers and students will collaborate in the Mine Solar Car Lab virtual environment to learn about different minerals and metals sourced from Australian mines,” Kizil said.
“By introducing students to a modern electric car in a collaborative, interactive way, mine solar car lab aims to excite children about the way electric cars are built and spark interest in learning more about this rapidly-changing industry.”
Kizil said that determining the strategies for managing resource scarcity and sustainability are key issues over the coming years and decades, which is important to introduce to students who might someday consider a career in engineering.
Minecraft is the best-selling video game of all time. As of May 2019, over 176 million copies have been sold across all platforms, and it has won numerous awards and accolades.
The game demonstrates the minerals industry’s innovative approach to educating young Australians on the exciting, technologically-driven Australian minerals sector, according to UQ.
In the game, students visit the fictional institute for voltaic propulsion, a research facility full of researchers and enormous machines.
They are tasked with mining and collecting raw materials used to build major parts of an electric car, then correctly inserting them into machines that will combine them into the finished components via an abstract version of a car factory.