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There has been a spot of role reversal in my house of late. I’ve been at the Minecraft again and my kids are complaining.

A while back Microsoft asked me and Joel Mills to work on the latest update of their amazingly popular game. And that update now includes a whole load of chemistry features!!

The Minecraft chemistry update makes it possible to mix subatomic particles together and create elements from hydrogen to oganesson as well as the isotopes in between. Or you can do a spot of elemental analysis on your Minecraft blocks (with a reasonable approximation to what you might find in reality). And then it is possible to combine elements and manufacture new compounds. These add some nice new features to the game. I particularly like the way you can add metal salts to the torch and they burn with the appropriate colours. The elephant’s toothpaste, glow sticks and helium balloons are also really nice additions.

The chemistry update is part of Minecraft Education Edition (MC:EE), a version of the game designed for use in the classroom (but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a licence yourself, costing the princely sum of $5 per year). MC:EE is packed with useful features for teachers that many of them would probably like in the real world (with a click of the mouse students are instantly frozen, muted or teleported back to exactly where the teacher wants them).

My contribution to the project has been to advice on the in-game chemistry, a set of lesson plans and a bespoke Minecraft chemistry teaching lab (for which Minecraft Global Mentor Joel Mills should get the credit).

Our lessons cover everything from lab safety (in which the students encounter a dangerous lab environment and have to spot the hazards and then reduce the risk of accidents by sorting it out) to a spot of analytical chemistry (using the game’s new material reducer).

Microsoft have done a cracking job of integrating chemistry in their virtual play world. But they are very much aware that the game isn’t (and can never be) and accurate chemistry simulator. Instead it is really designed to stimulate an interest in the subject. Which is why we also included lessons that encourage students to compare how the rules that govern the Minecraft world differ from that of the real world.