Minecraft: Education Edition

• Boosts skills such as problem-solving, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking
• Increases engagement among students
• Increases motivation and attendance
• Fosters an enjoyable & inclusive learning environment
• Students can be exposed to real-world problems and solutions
• Has over 600 pre-made worlds and lessons for educational use - includes a large variety of subjects
• Provides an opportunity to improve digital literacy and citizenship skills from multiple sources

Benefits

Minecraft for Education has 3 different ways to purchase a license. Qualified educational organizations can purchase licenses through their volume licensing agreement. This way allows an institution to purchase licenses in bulk. Administrators at qualified institutions can purchase individual licenses for $5.04 per user annually. Individual licenses can be purchased for use in camps, clubs, and other organizations that are not qualified for $12 per user annually.

Cost

Minecraft for Education is a classroom-friendly version of the very popular game Minecraft that has been redesigned for educational purposes. It integrates gaming into learning fueling student creativity and collaboration while encouraging a fun learning environment in subjects like STEM, science, history, ELA, coding, and more! Students can explore worlds and solve challenges, while learning new ways to tackle challenges.

What is Minecraft: Education Edition?

If I were a computer science teacher, I would love to incorporate Minecraft into my lesson plan. It has several prebuilt worlds and lessons that encompass many basic coding concepts. It would expose the students to popular coding languages as well as provide immediate feedback as they can visually see how changes they make impact the environment surrounding them. It would also allow an opportunity to informally assess the students' knowledge as well as provide a break from the traditional classroom setting to express themselves and engage with one another.

Why & How would you use it?

Firstly, two major needs for the software are to find a way to acquire it and to possess an Internet connection. Since the software is not free, a funding source will have to be obtained. Secondly, a Microsoft 365 account will have to be created. The license is obtained and assigned to this account when it is purchased. Thirdly, the user will need to determine the device to install it on, whether a laptop or desktop. They will need to make sure that the device meets the minimum hardware specifications to properly run the software.

What is Needed?

• Allows for a fun way to incorporate technology into the lesson plan letting the educator gamify their instruction, easy lesson plan/curriculum integration
• Provides ready-to-use lessons for immediate use with tons of activities and resources without being subject-specific
• Allows educators to manage gaming environment, control access, monitor progress, and facilitate lesson progression

• Provides collaboration features and assessment tools for in-game activities
• Provides multiple accessibility options for any students with special needs to encourage instruction participation

Minecraft: Education Edition functions?