Notes

Danish Government Puts ENTIRE Country on Minecraft to Aid Teachers

Geography lessons are virtualized: Danish government creates Minecraft version of ENTIRE country to aid teachers.



The department of mapping within the government recreated the entire country



Minecraft lesson plans for teachers also created in bid to make education more accessible



Published at 18:06 EDT on the 25th of April 2014. Updated: 19:01 EDT on the 25th April 2014.



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The Danish government has recreated the entire country using the popular computer game Minecraft.



The first nation to be fully integrated into the massive Minecraft games, the government hopes it will make lessons more fun for students.



It even designed plans for teachers' classes to assist them in navigating this virtual version of their nation.



Denmark's Ministry of the Environment has created a full-scale model of the country in Minecraft for players to explore.



The downloadable model is comprised of 4 billion blocks. It requires 1 terabyte of storage space.



What is Minecraft?



Minecraft was launched in 2009. At the start of the game, players are put into a 'virtually infinite game world.'



They can then walk through different terrains, such as caves, forests, and mountains.



Players can also fly up in the air for a birds-eye view of the landscape.



To build towns and cities, players are given blocks and tools.



As a player progresses they can earn advanced tools and building blocks from different materials.



The game was initially made for the PC but now there are Xbox 360 and mobile versions available.



The model comprises around 4000 billion bricks and consumes around 1TB (1000 Gigabytes) if you want to download the entire United States.



'We have constructed Denmark online in Minecraft, so that young people can plant their own forest and build a lake, riding school, wind turbine, biogas plant, and so on the Kirsten Brosbol, Danish Minister for the Environment.



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"Imagination is the only limit."



"This is how we can connect the digital world and the natural world."



It was founded by Simon Kokkendorf and Thor Bjorn Nielsen from Geodatastyrelsen which is the Danish mapping arm of the government.



They used publically available information about the country including elevation models as well as information on roads and structures and 'translated' it into Minecraft's distinctive bricks.



The navigation system was created by the pair so that visitors can find their own neighborhood in the model.



They can also look at the natural landscapes and nature as they appear in real life.



The Agency said that you can "go for a walk" in the countryside of Denmark. You can also view any place in Denmark in a similar way as Google Street View.



The Orestad school in Copenhagen has been testing the system to teach maths and geography to students.



"In the past when teachers would roll down the old map of Denmark in the class room and then have the students wrestle over the names of the different regions of Denmark,' said Katrin Kristensen, a teacher at the Orestad school.



Future Danish schoolchildren and others will be able to record their experiences with game animals and plants they have observed in nature.



"Now Denmark is available right here on tablets for children or computers, supporting the aim of using digital technology for teaching.



We have already had good experiences using Minecraft in maths teaching, for example.



'With the 'real Denmark available as a Minecraft world and we'll have more opportunities to encourage learning.



"Pupils find it more fun to work with their own house and street, and so on."



The developers made one change to the game: they took away the possibility to use Dynamite to blast specific areas.
Minecraft servers

Homepage: https://serverstat.net/minecraft-servers/