Overview

The CPC Public Engagement team built an educational activity in popular online game Minecraft to engage and educate the public on the topic of population. This Minecraft "world" was open to the public as part of the 2020 Human Worlds and ESRC Festival of Social Sciences digital online festivals.

In the CPC Minecraft "world" users log on to the multiplayer server to explore 3D models of population pyramids. Using their Minecraft character, users can learn to read the graphs and are invited to think about the populations represented. To engage a range of interests and increase understanding, we included some examples of fictional and popular culture populations, for example we explore how the population of Hogwarts look when plotted on a pyramid.

If you would like to play or explore this content with your class, email cpc@soton.ac.uk to request a copy of the world file.

Developed with the Wellcome Trust, Dr Tom Ezard and colleagues created a new app that allows you to explore the changing structure of human populations between 1780 and 2011 in over 90 countries. Explore the content here