Minecraft has taken the game so many fell in love with and has turned it into an extremely interesting, educational tool. Minecraft can already be a very interactive game, but in this version of the game, it takes educational topics and mixes it with that collaboration feature.

In Minecraft: Education Edition, creativity is key. The teacher controls the lesson, just as they would for any other. They control the biome, the environment, the weather; seemingly everything. All the while, students and teachers alike who are in your controlled universe, can communicate and interact just as they would a regular classroom. As they go through quests and explore the world, they’re able to communicate with either the teacher themselves only, or the whole classroom. This opens up a great level of collaboration in the virtual age, where communication and collaboration are often lost. The best part, it’s doing something they already enjoy.

An awesome tool within this interactive, educational game is that they have subject kits. I decided to play around with this edition of the game when I started looking into it and I noticed they had worlds already made. For example, I’m an aspiring history teacher, so I decided to explore their history and culture subject kit. In this kit they had several worlds, ranging from Ancient Egypt to Exploring World War 1. They also had worlds for the Chinese Tang Dynasty Capital and the Jamestown Settlement. There are many, many more but these are the ones I found most interesting. Within these kits are already placed historical figures and the students can go up to them with their character and talk to them. The historical figure in the game will give them information about themselves and their importance. If the student comes up with questions that they may have after the interaction, it is very simple to communicate with the rest of the class or teacher to ask questions.

When I saw this tool, I knew I had to share it. I never heard of it before and upon beginning my own mock trial of it, I was even more inspired. The collaboration potential for these children that are now solely being taught online is astounding. The way the students can interact and feed off one another to complete these educational quests the teacher prepares is creatively brilliant. I definitely look forward to working with this more and exploring all it has to offer. I’m very excited I got a chance to share it and hope it may inspire some others.