At Watsonia Primary School in Melbourne’s north-east, students in grades three to five have been gaming to create a healthier world.  

They were part of a pilot program run by Monash University and VicHealth, where students were given the mission to design and build communities where people are connected, active and eating well, using the game Minecraft Education Edition.

Next term the Kids Building Future Healthy program will open to all Victorian children in grades three to six, with the best ideas to be pitched to local councils or state leaders.

Digital learning leading teacher at Watsonia Primary School, Ingrid Noack, said Minecraft Education was a fantastic tool to engage kids in how community design could impact health outcomes.

“The students absolutely loved working in teams, they loved the engagement of the Minecraft world and the gamification of it,” she said.

In their local community, pupils had noticed many younger children didn’t feel comfortable using the skate park.

Ms Noack said the program sparked a conversation between students about how to solve this issue.

“They came up with lots of ideas including signs with written rules, a separate skate park for younger kids or even a buddy system where older children take responsibility for younger ones to have a go,” she said.

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Game ‘ideal’ for learning

Minecraft Education is a popular gaming platform where players can collaborate to build three dimensional worlds using blocks.

Monash University Associate Professor Deana Leahy said this makes Minecraft an “ideal space” for students to act as community health researchers and planners, and build a healthier virtual world.

“We do need some new approaches to health education, and I think this is a new approach that is cross-curriculum and it’s fun,” she said.

“We’ve got three challenges to get kids thinking about what makes a healthier community, then kids enter a construction zone where they pick a challenge they want to design a solution for.”

Dr Leahy said the mission gets children to think about how where people live can impact how well they eat, exercise habits and social connection.

So far, student solutions to these health issues include more community food gardens, bike lanes, healthier kiosks, exercise bikes that charge phones, and more inviting toilet blocks.

“The kids loved it, I’ve never seen a classroom so full of energy – it was exciting,” she said.

“They talked about how they started to understand that there are things in our community that do contribute to our health, and that we can change people’s health by how we build our communities.”

From virtual to real world

VicHealth chief executive Dr Sandro Demaio said the program was an opportunity to elevate the vision of young Victorians.

“We really want to listen to young people, understand the vision they have to make Victoria a healthy place and take that to the decision makers we have access to, whether that’s local councils or state leaders,” he said.

The most innovative student builds will appear on the VicHealth website.

Three teams will also be given the opportunity to present their ideas to local government leaders later this year.

Dr Demaio said he wouldn’t be surprised if some of the ideas were implemented in the real world.

“For every child who participates in this program, it’s really about giving them agency and voice and giving them confidence to speak up about what would make a healthier Victoria,” he said.

“Hopefully in the process we might end up with a few future mayors, designers and doctors.”

Students can participate in the Kids Building Future Healthy program privately or through their school.

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