Building Masterpieces of Christmas Past
In Christmas’ gone by, the top item that was on every future builders Christmas list was either Lego or Meccano. These toys would let imaginations run wild creating wonderful constructed masterpieces of futuristic cities and houses.
Moving to the present day, the building industry is finding its number of workers dwindling - why is this? Has Lego and Meccano fallen out of favour, and been taken over by iPads and laptops in the Christmas stockings?
The CIOB having been thinking the same too - but they have a new game to put on Santa’s list. It’s called Minecraft - a game that lets the player construct and build houses and cities in their own 3D world. And with its popularity is growing as quickly as the players are building, with over 70 million players worldwide. The CIOB think that the children who are now building in Minecraft, will have a better chance of a career in construction with a desire to build new homes, and cities, of the future.
With this in mind the CIOB has created a game of its own, aimed at 12-14 year olds - and its called Craft Your Future. Here young players find out different methods and skills required for a career in building.
The impact of Minecraft is to such an extent that the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure has issued free licenses to over 200 schools, giving 50,000 children the chance to be involved in city planning. To which there are four free Minecraft Education Lessons available for teachers to download, giving students access to a variety of problems the are ever present in the real world today.
Bridget Bartlett, CIOB deputy chief executive, said:
“There are 70 million people playing Minecraft and just like Lego it has the capacity to inspire and attract a new wave of construction managers into an ever-increasing digital industry.
What is exciting is that these young learners will not only have fun but also develop their communication, team working and mathematics skills; skills that construction has a high demand for.
The lessons are designed to be teacher-friendly and we hope construction employers will also want to use them in schools as they bid to switch the next generation onto a career in construction.”
So maybe builders of the future are right asking Father Christmas iPads and laptops, though that said, there is still nothing wrong with putting a little box of Lego in their stocking.
Source: 24housing.co.uk
Image Credit: reawakens.net
