As Minecraft has grown and expanded over the years, its largest user base has arguably been children. Minecraft's simplistic and family-friendly nature, combined with its low hardware requirements, has made it easy for kids to understand and easy for parents to get on board with. This popularity with younger audiences piqued the interest of those in the educational sector, who are always looking for new ways to engage children in learning.
Mojang embraced the idea of Minecraft as a learning tool. In 2016, Minecraft: Education Edition was officially released. This version (based on Bedrock Edition) added several features that would benefit a classroom setting and provide practical learning tools for students. However, students are not the only ones who could benefit from these features. The regular versions of the game should use some of these too.
10 Camera - Taking Screenshots The Fun Way
One of the joys of building epic structures in Minecraft is getting to show it off to friends. Taking screenshots has been a feature in Minecraft since the early days, and has allowed communities all over the internet to share their creations.
Minecraft's regular versions missed out making the process of taking those screenshots fun. While it's convenient just to hit F2 and have the screenshot taken, the camera in Education Edition makes it a more enjoyable process. Kids can set it up and get their friends to squeeze in to take the photo, which also teaches them some basics of photography. All in all, it makes for a more heartwarming communal experience.
9 Sparklers & Glow Sticks - Pretty Colors
While not the most useful of items, Fireworks are one of Minecraft's more fun features. Playing around with the different colours, patterns and effects can make for an enjoyable session of crafting, as well as satisfaction when they go off just right. They're the perfect toy for when players get bored.
The Sparklers & Glow Sticks in Education Edition have similar levels of satisfaction, as they have to be carefully crafted using the game's Chemistry system. The effects they create are similar to Fireworks, and bringing them into the regular game would allow for a full Bonfire Night or New Year's celebration!
8 Tutorial Level - Learning The Easy Way
Although Minecraft is, by some estimates, the best selling game of all time, it's not fair to assume everyone knows how to play it. Children have different levels of ability and different ways of learning, so they may need something to ease them into the game for the first time.
Thankfully, Education Edition has them covered. This version comes with not only a tutorial on basic Minecraft gameplay, but instruction on how a lot of the Education Edition exclusive features work. Such a simple feature would be welcomed by new players in the regular game.
7 Balloons - A Fun New Weapon
That's right, a weapon. Crafted with Latex & Helium, players of Education Edition can produce Balloons of all different colors with a couple of applications. Firstly, Balloons are fun, and placing them around as decorations would improve the aesthetics of even the most complex builds.
That's not all they can be used for, though. These Balloons have a fun quirk in their design. If the player ties one to one of the game's many hostile mobs, it carries them up into the sky. Then, when the Balloon pops, the mob comes crashing back down to Earth. Brutal? Yes. Hilarious? Absolutely.
6 Chalkboard - Bigger Signs
Signs are a surprisingly versatile item in Minecraft. Players have found a ridiculous number of uses for them, including preventing liquids from falling, tricking mobs into walking where they should, and of course, writing messages.
However, the problem with Signs comes with their limited character count. With only a few words per line and four lines, writing anything complex can be irritating. The Chalkboard item in Education Edition gets around this. Designed so full lesson plans can be displayed on them, Chalkboards can fit plenty of text and have a couple of different styles depending on the player's needs.
5 Heat Block - Keeping The Cold At Bay
When building in the snowy regions of Minecraft, light-source blocks can be a quick way to clear the snow or ice. These blocks all generate heat, which melts snow & ice in a small radius around them. The only problem is that players often end up with random light sources dotted around, which can be annoying to work into builds.
Education Edition holds the solution in the form of the Heat Block. Placing Iron, Water, Charcoal & Salt into a Crafting Table (to teach players a little bit about Electrochemistry) gives players the Heat Block. This block generates heat to melt snow & ice without producing light. It's not the most vital tool, but it would be incredibly useful in certain circumstances.
4 Allow & Deny Blocks - Controlled Construction
Adventure Maps in Minecraft have become insanely advanced over the years. Mapmakers can achieve feats that seem like magic to those unfamiliar with advanced Redstone. Even with the incredible things mapmakers can create, they could always do with more tools in their arsenal.
The Allow & Deny Blocks would be great not just for adventure maps, but servers too. Quite simply, they either allow blocks to be placed in a zone where they otherwise wouldn't, or deny block placements in a zone where they're otherwise allowed. No longer would creators have to set up Redstone to change players' Gamemodes depending on where they are. It could all be done without their input.
3 Elements - The Periodic Table
While many of Education Edition's tools could be considered trivial or simplistic, that could never be said about this feature. Used for Chemistry lessons around the globe, the entire periodic table features as a series of items in Education Edition, all with different interactions to each other.
All the details from their classification, symbol, and atomic weight are learnable in the game. Many of the exclusive crafting recipes feature these elements as crucial crafting ingredients. The entire periodic table might indeed be a bit much for regular Minecraft, but many of these elements could easily be converted into items for the regular game that would open up endless possibilities.
2 Underwater TNT & Torches - Lighting Up The Ocean
Underwater bases in Minecraft looks cool from both the inside and outside. Unfortunately, building these sub-nautical homes can often be a challenge. Water automatically destroys Torches upon contact, and it prevents TNT (and Creepers) from damaging blocks, which can make clearing terrain a chore.
Never fear, Education Edition is here. Combining some TNT with Sodium will produce Underwater TNT, which will always damage blocks when it explodes, even when in water. Additionally, combining a Torch with Magnesium produces an Underwater Torch, which cannot be destroyed by water and gives the light a cool blue glow.
1 Agents - Programmable Helper
Programming is an extremely useful skill to learn, and getting kids into it at a young age can be a huge benefit to them and the industry at large. The Agents of Education Edition are here to ensure that kids get that opportunity. These programmable robots can be made to complete several tasks, such as placing & destroying blocks, attacking mobs and collecting items.
The coding interface is pretty basic, as it's designed for school-children. However, many members of the Minecraft community could make these Agents do incredible things. Even with more basic limitations, any Minecraft world could be improved by having some of these adorable Agents running around doing simple tasks. With updates constantly changing and evolving Minecraft, players can hope to see these Agents in the full game sometime soon.