Class uses Minecraft as building blocks for MCAT

A new University of Texas at Dallas class gives premed students the opportunity to take care of fictional patients in a virtual hospital – all in the blocky world of Minecraft.

Instead of a textbook, students in the course, Experiential Medical Reasoning, use a playbook embedded in the popular video game. Students are challenged with making decisions such as which tests to order for patients and what possible diagnoses apply to patients based on their symptoms and medical charts.

The playbook was designed by IvyBee, Inc., a startup company in Dallas founded and led by UT Dallas scientists. The technology is powered by Authura, IvyBee’s online course builder.

In the game, students in the class enter a replica of Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, where they advance through levels from laboratory technician, medical student, resident and fellow to attending physician to prepare for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT).

“I signed up for the class because it sounded really cool,” neuroscience senior Charlynn Maina said. “It’s definitely a new way of learning, a fun way to approach preparing for the MCAT.”

Although Maina had never played video games before, she said the platform was easy to navigate. Students can access the game through mobile devices, computers or gaming consoles.

Biology senior Omar Choudhry, who played Minecraft as a kid, said the class has helped him improve his MCAT score on practice tests. Choudhry aspires to become a surgeon and plans to take the exam in May.

“You can go talk to a lab partner and review what you learned,” Choudhry said. “It’s very engaging.”

The class is the latest Minecraft educational tool developed by a team led by Dr. Walter Voit BS’05, MS’06, associate professor of materials science and engineering and of mechanical engineering and founder of UT Dallas’ Center for Engineering Innovation (CEI).

In 2014 Voit’s team released Polycraft World, a Minecraft modification that incorporates aspects of polymer science and engineering into the game. UT Dallas researchers received a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency grant in 2020 to use Polycraft World to teach artificial intelligence systems to respond to dynamic and unpredictable environments.

More recently, Voit and fellow researchers launched IvyBee to develop educational games embedded in Minecraft and to partner with UT Dallas to offer the for-credit MCAT prep course.

Voit, a longtime Minecraft player, said the idea was inspired by his teaching experience.

“I realized how much I enjoyed playing Minecraft and how little my students enjoyed being in the classroom,” Voit said. “We want to use Minecraft to help expose students to information in a really fun, engaging way.”

The digital twin of Parkland was developed by a team led by Dr. Robert Steininger, a CEI research scientist and IvyBee puzzlemaster. He said Minecraft makes it possible to build a digital duplicate in the platform relatively quickly.

Dr. Eric Kildebeck BS’05, CEI co-director who teaches the course, said the playbook builds on his in-person lectures and asks students to apply what they have learned in their premed classes. He and Voit were members of the inaugural cohort of Eugene McDermott Scholars at UT Dallas.

“The game is built to reinforce knowledge,” said Kildebeck, who has an MD/PhD from UT Southwestern Medical Center and has taught MCAT prep courses for Princeton Review.

In 2025, UT Dallas was the No. 15 medical school feeder school in the country and No. 3 in Texas, according to the AAMC. The University supports premed students through its Health Professions Advising Center.

Students said the gamified approach works.

“It makes applying what you’ve learned a lot easier,” Maina said. “We definitely remember what we learn because we have to use that knowledge in the game.”

In addition to helping them improve their MCAT scores, students said the playbook gives them insight into what it would be like to work in a hospital.

“When I play the video game, I get to see more of what goes on behind the scenes and what I potentially could be doing as a doctor,” said Henock Abera BS’23.

Abera, who grew up playing Minecraft, returned to UT Dallas after graduation to earn a Certificate in Biomedical Sciences.

Neuroscience senior Sahar Bavandi also said the experience is invaluable.

“When I read the course description, I said ‘This is for me,’” she said. “I can finally get the exposure I need to know whether this is a setting in which I want to get involved.”

Students said they are enjoying the Minecraft playbook so much, they would like to see the technology used in other classes.

“This is something that the new generation wants,” Bavandi said. “I think this is a new step toward adapting education to technology.”