Students in the Philippines can now learn and play virtually using the latest partnership of DepEd (Department of Education) and Microsoft Philippines, the Minecraft: Education Edition or M:EE. However, only those students and teachers who has DepEd Microsoft 365 account can access it for FREE.
The Minecraft game is one of the original sandbox game for exploring, crafting and building things. Now, there are several mod already build for the game and one of that is for Education.
So what can you do on the Education Edition of Minecraft? There are various learning activities that a student can do in the game world such as science, math, computer science, equity & inclusion, history & culture, social emotional, chemistry, biology, we are the rangers, extinction biodiversity crisis and many more.
How to Download Minecraft: Education Edition
To download the Minecraft: Education Edition, just select the platform you want to play:
- Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mojang.minecraftedu_preview
- iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/minecraft-education-edition/id1196524622
- PC: https://education.minecraft.net/en-us/get-started/download
To access it for FREE and the DepEd lessons, you need to make sure you login your DepEd Microsoft 365 account.
For those who don’t have a DepEd Microsoft Account, you may also try the demo lesson that are available to all. if you have a business email, you can try the 10 times full access trials.
Example game – Water Quality (Computer Science)
Checking out the game, we tried the Water Quality under Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. On this lesson, student will learn how to gather and prepare water samples for dataset and use machine learning algorithms for testing water quality and anti-pollution efforts.
Student first task is to collect water samples from the river in four different location.
Then the student will send the sample to a Data Scientist where the student can learn how to code using a basic code builder.
The 3rd activity is to send the sample dataset to an Engineer. From here, student will learn the concept of solving a dataset problem using artificial intelligent.
Lastly, the final task is to place a warning sign to the sources of pollution to stop it.
This is just one of the fun activities that a student can learn by playing this Education Edition of Minecraft. DepEd also prepared local activities like Virtual fieldtrips where student can visit historical landmarks in the Philippines.