Microsoft releases new education-focused collection for free in the Minecraft Marketplace

Minecraft Education Edition
Minecraft Education Edition (Image credit: Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Microsoft and Mojang offer an Education Edition of Minecraft for schools and other learning institutions.
  • It features a ton of tools, lessons, and resources to help educators in teaching their children.
  • Today, Microsoft and Mojang are taking a bunch of those lessons and releasing them as a free collection.
  • Until June 30, 2020, children can download and play these lessons and worlds in Minecraft: Bedrock Edition.

There was already a great way to use Minecraft: Education Edition to help your children while they're home from school, but Microsoft and Mojang are taking it a step further to make it even easier. While the full Minecraft: Education Edition was given increased access for any kids with a Microsoft Education account, there are still a ton of children stuck at home who are struggling to maintain their education.

Starting today, there is a new collection of lessons, maps, and challenges from the Education Edition available for free through the Minecraft Marketplace. These maps include exploring the International Space Station, or even exploring the inside of an eye, amongst others. This should make it even easier for parents to use Minecraft as an educational tool, and is another push from Microsoft to help the schooling situation with the coronavirus outbreak. They'll be available until June 30, 2020.

You can read more about the new maps here, while Phil Spencer, the Head of Xbox at Microsoft, released a blog post here detailing the various ways parents can use gaming as an educational tool to teach their children while at home.

Zachary Boddy
Staff Writer

Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter @BoddyZachary.