Minecraft has outgrown its humble beginnings in 2011 and has since become the top sold video game of all time. This massive growth has brought a huge player base that is dedicated to bettering the game by providing feedback and help whenever and wherever they can. Like its player base, Mojang, the current developers behind the new content of Minecraft, have created Minecraft: Education Edition that is dedicated to improving learning and retention for school students.
Minecraft: Education Edition is a guided experience that takes players through various challenges designed to teach them STEM skills, problem-solving, curriculum lessons, and collaboration with others all while ensuring they have an outlet to expand their creativity. It also opens up new forms and techniques of teaching particular topics that are easier to comprehend and put into practice.
Minecraft: Education Edition’s Vision
Mojang had a simple plan for Minecraft: Education Edition, creating a program that can give students 21st-century skills they will be able to apply in their future workspaces while maintaining a high level of attention and retention of the material. By combining the core gameplay mechanics of Minecraft and various education-based challenges, Mojang successfully integrated education into its massively popular game.
As a 3D building game, Minecraft already aids in training and improving creativity, hand-eye coordination, and resource management. To take this a step further, Mojang focused its efforts on introducing STEM learning systems, such as coding and chemistry, and allowing students to work collectively on challenges to promote collaboration and leadership skills. It also provided teachers with the tools to design lesson plans and teach students topics that are required to be taught as per their school curriculum.
Minecraft: Education Edition in Schools
As an educational program, Minecraft: Education Edition is dedicated to helping both students and teachers in schools around the world effectively learn and teach respectively. With the tools available in this edition, teachers can create lesson plans within Minecraft and assign tasks to students while providing detailed explanations through the chalkboard or through customizable NPCs to guide the students through the lesson.
Students have a limited block palette in Education Edition dependent on the lesson plan created by the teacher and must use those blocks, Minecraft’s gameplay mechanics, and collaboration to ensure they complete the set tasks. They can take pictures using the camera tool to catalog the completion of tasks which can be accessed anytime within that world, and visit links provided by NPCs to give them more information on certain topics.
This functionality allows teachers to tailor their lessons to teach students particular subjects and focus on certain topics. The interactive learning method used in Minecraft: Education Edition does not simply teach students about these topics but encourages them to find creative paths towards the completion of tasks, thus improving their knowledge on these topics.
Minecraft: Education Edition’s Success
Since its release, Minecraft: Education Edition is actively being used in over 40 countries and has helped millions of students learn and understand topics much faster than conventional teaching methods. During the COVID-19 pandemic, where remote learning became a necessity, Minecraft: Education Edition has proven to be an effective learning method that provides students with the tools necessary to progress in their education from the comfort of their homes.
Teachers around the world have noted that by using Minecraft: Education Edition, students are able to stay attentive for longer periods of time and tackle cross-curricular lessons, something that is usually difficult when using traditional teaching methods. Whether math, computer science, or even history, Minecraft: Education Edition does one thing that conventional teachings methods have struggled with, making the lessons both engaging and entertaining for students.
In the 21st century, there has been a shift in teaching methods as more and more teachers have started to prefer digital teachings as it is more interactive and engaging for students, two things that can greatly improve retention of information. With a growing community of over 7,000 classrooms, students around the world can enjoy learning various subjects in Minecraft: Education Edition such as Math, Computer Science, Chemistry, Physics, History, Art, and so much more.
Teachers and students continue to find success within the worlds of Minecraft: Education Edition thanks to its interactive and completely customizable learning experience. Teachers can continue to design lessons in creative ways and fill them with important topics while students continue to enjoy the 3D world and find new and creative solutions to lessons in Education Edition, all while progressing through the school curriculum.
Minecraft: Education Edition is available through licenses for iOS and PC. Minecraft is available for Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.