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“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”
Mary Lou Cook
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Sooo… there is a resource I have been curious about for YEARS! When I was in high school, I noticed that there was an app downloaded onto every computer… and although it was so common, I never ended up giving it a try. To bring me back to my curious days, I decided to finally explore this mysterious app. What might that be? The very own Minecraft Education edition. If you are new to this – like me – please enjoy the overview video below.
Now… if you find yourself wondering how Minecraft Education and pixel art are related, I am getting there… SOON! But isn’t this resource cool?! Minecraft Education Edition is a specialized version of the popular sandbox game, Minecraft, tailored specifically for educational purposes. Developed by Mojang Studios, this platform uses the immersive and creative potential of Minecraft to engage students in a variety of subjects, from math and science to history and language arts. It offers a collaborative environment where educators can create custom lessons, worlds, and challenges to facilitate learning in an interactive and dynamic way. BONUS, it is free to use if you have a school-verified email 🎉! If you don’t know by now, I am a sucker for free teaching resources.
To start, I had to download Minecraft Education onto my computer. I was immediately blown away when opening the application. You have the option of picking from subject kits, monthly build challenges, starter worlds, or how to play tutorials. Now, if you are planning on teaching anything related to Science, Math, Computer Science, Equity and Inclusion, History and Culture, Social Emotional, Art and Design, Digital Citizenship, Literacy and Language, ESports, or Climate and Sustainability; then Minecraft Education is for you!
There are tons of pre-made lessons for each and every one of these categories. Continuing my theme of pixel art, I decided to give the Art and Design starter kit a try. Specifically, building a campsite. I had so much fun following along with this activity. I like thinking of each block like a pixel, so I used the skills I have built thus far to make my camp site. It got rained out… digitally (lol)! However, I still had time to take a screenshot.
Honestly, I think that Minecraft Education is the best educational resource I have found so far! It is an 11/10 in my books. They even have hour-long lessons that teach students about cyber safety! If you want more information, see here.
Phew, that was a lot. Thank you for sticking with me! Now, I just have to ask, are you familiar with Minecraft Education? If so, what are your thoughts on it?! I would love to know.
2 Comments
Everett Stone
During my small internship in my first year of education I noticed that the social studies class made use of Minecraft Education in an attempt to teach trade and commerce to the students. I was curious how Minecraft education worked so this was a very interesting post to read! Hearing that it can be used to teach about a variety of topics and that you gave it such a high review definitely puts it on my potentially use in my own classroom in the future list!
Haylee
Hey Emma,
I am glad you like using Educational Minecraft because I completely agree with you! It is so multifunction and can be used in many different elements in a school setting. For example, I teach at a catholic school and to wrap up our church structure unit students had to design their own church using Educational Minecraft. They loved it!!! Just curious do you have any ideas on how you could connect Minecraft to a particular unit or lesson?