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Kids Building Future Healthy

A Minecraft Mission

Building healthy communities one block at a time

Five Minecraft characters are standing against a blue background. The middle one is our CEO Sandro.
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Healthier futures through gaming. 

Monash University and VicHealth teamed up for a new project to get kids involved in building healthier futures.  

The 'Kids Building Future Healthy Mission' utilised Minecraft Education Edition to teach kids about health through interactive challenges. 

The mission used gaming to boost health literacy and aimed to empower kids to take social action. Using Minecraft, kids completed learning tasks and created neighbourhood spaces that support health. 

We wanted kids to know that healthy local environments support communities to eat well, be active and feel connected. We wanted to show kids they can help shape health decisions in their community.

The Mission

We invited kids from across Victoria to join us on a statewide mission to Build a Healthy Future in Minecraft.  

The mission focused on three critical research questions:

  • How can you help your community be more active?
  • How can you help your community eat well?
  • How can you help your community feel more connected?

As kids worked to answer these questions, they researched their local community to find things in the environment that might affect people's health.

This data showed the health risks and benefits in kids' environments. It was a vital step for kids to see what could change in their community. It meant kids could act on the social and commercial determinants of health in their community and find ways to create healthier places. 

Once kids entered the Future Healthy World in Minecraft, they faced learning challenges. This was to help kids develop the health skills needed to join the project. After the challenges, kids chose a community setting. They then started building their solution for a healthier environment. Kids were encouraged to submit their finished builds to VicHealth.  

Minecraft character Aisha A photo looking over the shoulder of a child playing Minecraft. The text on the screen says "Players agree! Impacts 'Feeling Connected'."
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Kids' Research and Insights

The ‘Kids Building Future Healthy’ mission was an enriching educational journey that built key health literacies, including an understanding of how physical and social environments impact health.

The submissions received affirm that kids could connect their builds with relevant health priorities and issues in their local community. The program provided a novel opportunity for kids to voice their ideas in building healthier futures. 

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Community Audit Examples

Check out the data below. These are examples collected by kids researching their local community. Kids identified positive and negative factors that impact health which informed their journey to creating healthier spaces. 

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Kids' creations

These are the Minecraft builds kids created when envisioning healthy spaces.

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What's next for the Mission?

This challenge provided a tool to engage kids in creative ways to help inform planning. 

In envisioning 'Kids Building Future Healthy' mission 2.0, we propose offering schools and organisations the flexibility to select their own priority health issue and setting. 

This could provide an engaging way for students to voice their views and help build healthy spaces that are a priority for their local community. For example, kids could be invited to help build a future healthy museum, school, sports club, canteen, library or market. 

  • Credits
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    This project was developed in partnership with Future Healthy and the Faculty of Education, Monash University.

    Monash University Project Team

    Project lead
    • Associate Professor Deana Leahy
    Faculty of Education Team
    • Dr Jo Blannin
    • Associate Professor Laura Alfrey
    • Professor Ruth Jeanes
    • Dr Rosie Welch
    • Dr Lisa Young
    • Dr Chris Grove
    • Mohammad Jokar

    Minecraft World Builder and Content Creator

    • Stephen Elford

    Minecraft Education and Game Design Consultant

    Videos and Animations

    Web Design - Kids Building Future Healthy 

    • Hayden Doward

     

Artwork by Dexx (Gunditjmara/Boon Wurrung) ‘Mobs Coming Together’ 2022
VicHealth acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to all Elders past, present and future.
This website may contain images, names and voices of deceased people.

VicHealth acknowledges the support of the Victorian Government.

Artwork Credit: Dexx (Gunditjmara/Boon Wurrung) ‘Mobs Coming Together’ 2022, acrylic on canvas. Learn more about this artwork.