Wichita State college regularly holds a Geology Field camp for their students, and sadly during this pandemic, students were told that the camp was canceled The Professor, William Parcell, decided to offer a creative solution for students that are presently trapped at home.
“It’s about exploration, Just having videos, and lecturing, and then doing a test doesn’t really get at the heart of what field geology is really all about,” Parcell said.
William Parcell is an associate professor and chair of the geology department at Wichita State University had already been working on a more virtual experience for students who are unable to spend a month out in the wilderness.
Mr. Parcell was initially developing a virtual version of the camp years ago; the current pandemic was the perfect time to show off the virtual version of the camp to the public. Mr. Parcell used a combination of satellite photography and topographic maps of the Bighorn Basin region to recreate the region in a series of Minecraft worlds that mimics of those regions.
This camp usually has students traveling to Wyoming’s Bighorn Basin for their capstone field geology course. This course has students hiking together across sagebrush deserts and up steep mountains to get first-hand experience examining rocks and collecting data of the surrounding area.
This recreation is similar to how, during this pandemic, ElseWither was created. ElseWither is a recreation of the famous night club of Elsewhere.
Elsewhere is an indie-music club that is located in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, ElseWither is a recreation of Elsewhere that has already seen some massive popularity.
Minecraft is the perfect game to recreate this camp, the adaptability, and easy scalability are the two main features that make Minecraft widely used when recreating or creating new and exciting experiences. Minecraft is a perfect game for recreating vast landscapes with the blocky graphics and offers an easy way to build.
This virtual camp is similar to the camps provided by Connected Camps offers. Connected Camps also utilizes Minecraft to offer a variety of camps.
Connected Camps has more than 10,000 young people participating in their online programs over the last five years. Connected Camps offers more than one game as a medium, and they utilize Minecraft and Roblox and others to provide summer camps from the comfort of the student’s home.
