Minecraft Education Edition is a version of the popular world-building block-placing video game: Minecraft. The Education Edition offers a variety of academically-focused learning plans, ranging from fractions to fairytales, to inspire student-centered, interactive exploration and building. For example, you can teach math with the Oregon Trail Experience, a ready-made lesson that takes students through the Oregon Trail where they are challenged to calculate the weight of items to bring on the trip. Or, have your students reflect on the biodiversity crisis by completing Extinction! Safari. There are learning plans in all sorts of subjects including science, coding, math, technology, history and culture, art, music and design, digital citizenship, as well as equity and inclusion.

Available in over 20 languages, and used in classrooms in more than 115 countries, Minecraft Education opens the door to creativity and new possibilities for students and educators to build 3D designs and interactive worlds. For instance, students designed a roller-coaster tour of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens for the Minecraft Innovation Project by the Department of Education in Australia.

Minecraft Education includes built-in accessibility features such as the integration of Microsoft Immersive Reader, which allows text to be read aloud, translated, and converted into a picture dictionary. The game can be played in single-player mode and multiplayer mode, inviting social learning. There is also an add-on Classroom Mode, designed to aid teachers in virtual classroom management.

Minecraft Education initially requires time to master, but rewards this investment by giving students more voice and choice in a flexible environment that supports inclusion and builds collaborative competencies and problem-solving skills. Everyone wins in this game.

June 2021 UPDATE: Microsoft launched a Minecraft Education Edition Teacher Academy, which consists of eleven courses about how to use Minecraft Education Edition for teaching and learning. Upon completing the courses, teachers can become a Microsoft Certified Teacher and receive a digital badge.