“Minecraft: Education Edition” is actually “Minecraft” that is customized for schools. When it tweaked the version of the game, Microsoft did not just want kids to explore dark caverns, endless plains, and procedurally-generated mountains. The company wants children to explore places carved out of the real world including the ancient Pompeii, the pyramids of Giza, and Greek temples, as well as other places they can learn from.
The changes from “Minecraft” to “Minecraft: Education Edition” are not dramatic because it is essentially the same game that gamers have been playing for years, but with a few extra features to allow for ease of use.
Some of these include improving the game’s mapping feature so that a class can actually find its way around, letting teachers lock in certain resources for students to use, and adding an in-game camera and scrapbook to handle screenshots for cataloguing where they have been through.
The American tech company said that it is keeping the changes minor as it does not want to turn “Minecraft” into a straight educational product because it is still a game first and foremost, which makes kids interested in using it. But it has applications in the classroom too, making it a dual-purpose tool.