Students from UTC Portsmouth and Winchester College worked together today to take on the Red Planet in an effort to survive with very limited resources. The mixed teams of Year 9 & 10 students have spent the afternoon on UTC Portmouth’s MarsCraft Minecraft Server (a 1:600 scale, topographically accurate map of Mars).
The mixed teams worked together to first establish a temporary outpost, before finally constructing a permanent martian base. They navigated perilous obstacles along the way, using all their creative problem solving and teamwork skills to be the team that survived the longest. The session is the first one to take place between the two schools and was created as an opportunity for both sets of students to work together and get to know one another.
Damien Edmondson, Head of Science at UTC Portsmouth, facilitated the session and said: "I was very impressed with the imagination and ingenuity on display from all the students today. They devised interesting solutions to the challenges, used each of the team members skills to the best of their ability to survive Mars."
Peter Mapstone, Computer Science teacher at Winchester College added: “The students settled into the familiar environment of Minecraft to engage in the mission interacting in real-life and in the virtual martian world. They thoroughly enjoyed the challenges posed and working in a new team from the off.”
Students at UTC Portsmouth have access to Minecraft Education Edition twice weekly as part of their enrichment sessions. The MarsCraft Minecraft Server at the college was initiated as a project with Airbus to offer problem solving situations to students at UTC Portsmouth to help build problem solving and teamwork and is also enjoyed as an immersive mindfulness activity.