During its education event on Tuesday in New York City, Microsoft revealed more details about Minecraft: Education Edition.
The education-focused take on the popular game allows teachers to share worlds and the lesson plans they create. Microsoft will launch a website where teachers and educators are able to submit the worlds they create. The company uploaded a few maps of its own, including ones that take players to feudal Japan and the Greek Parthenon in Athens, giving students the ability to learn about the history of those eras.
The update also comes with a mapping feature that lets students and teachers find their way around the world they’re currently exploring. Teachers can add different minerals and resources in specific locations that students are able to find using an in-game map.
Minecraft: Education Edition also brings a code builder to the popular pixellated video game.
To start coding, students input “/code” into the game’s chatbox, bringing up a list of commands. After choosing a command a robot coding assistant with no name other than “the agent” will do what the student tells it. The Codebuilder uses learn-to-code tools like Makecode, Scratch and Tynker.
In the Mars landscape shown at the Microsoft education event, the coding assistant dug through the red planet. The agent can also be told to light up your virtual residence at night and much more.
More experienced coders can also use Javascript with Minecraft, however, the game’s built-in coding assistant is not available when working with Javascript.
The beta version of Codebuilder is available right now.
Source: Minecraft: Education Edition
