Microsoft had previously announced a new version of Minecraft called the Minecraft: Education Edition, but it wasn't just about bringing a new version of the game to the market, it's about bringing a new version of the game to the classroom in local schools. Originally Microsoft had made a post about the education rendition of Minecraft over on the Microsoft blog. They revealed that the game is already being utilized as an educational tool in more than 7,000 classrooms across 40 different countries. They detail their initiatives in a video you can check out below. [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl9ZQiektJE[/youtube] Their next step is to further expand that by focusing the new Minecraft: Education Edition on enhancing student comprehensive, problem solving, and social skills. In one interesting example, the Alfriston College in New Zealand has utilized Minecraft to recreate the 1915 Gallipoli campaign in the game, yes the same Gallipoli where many Australian soldiers fell during the war in the trench-based battles. You might remember the movie based on that campaign starring Mel Gibson, conveniently called Gallipoli. They also mention in the blog post that elementary school kids in Scotland are being introduced into Minecraft to learn basic city planning and engineering using the tools provided in the software. Although I don't know how well that would work out given how limited Minecraft is when it comes to architectural physics and actual engineering principles.
