STEM
Minecraft for Chromebooks Arrives
- By Dian Schaffhauser
- 08/14/20
As
Microsoft promised a
few weeks ago,
the company has announced general availability of Minecraft:
Education Edition
for Chromebook devices, just in time for the start of school. The
release comes with two new features for all users:
-
11
new STEM lessons, including a Minecraft
world
developed with help from the American Beekeeping Federation's Kids
and Bees program,
to introduce students to honeybees and pollination; and
-
Improvements
to the lesson library, with tagging of learning activities to make
searching easier;
Schools
with a license to Microsoft 365 for Education already have access to
the newest version of Minecraft. However, the gaming platform can
also be licensed through an annual subscription in the Microsoft
Store for Education. Currently, a Microsoft account is required; but
soon, the company reported, users with a Google account will be able
to log in as well.
Minecraft:
Education Edition for Chromebook
details on provided a dedicated landing page.
The
Minecraft
education download page
is the starting place for all versions of the product.
Microsoft
has also developed a "learning
at home" set of free resources
to help teachers and families stay connected through educational
play.
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @schaffhauser.