Minecraft: Education Edition introduces ‘Sustainability City’ lessons
Microsoft wants to teach children about a more sustainable future
Minecraft: Education Edition is getting six new lessons all about sustainability.
Each lesson based in the new ‘Sustainability City’ map will cover a range of topics, including: “components of a sustainable home, managing waste products, clean electricity generation, responsible forestry, and more.”
According to the official website, the developers hope that students who take the lessons will “gain the skills to look around them and realize that the fight against climate change and habitat loss isn’t impossible”, as well as inspire students “to seek out sustainable solutions and build eco-friendly habits in their everyday lives.”
The education edition of Minecraft was released in 2016 and specifically designed to be played in a classroom setting. This version of Mojang Studios’ sandbox game allows groups of up to 30 students to work collaboratively in one server and provides teachers the tools to continue educating in the game.
Minecraft: Education Edition has even been of help during the COVID-19 pandemic after Microsoft and Mojang released a free Minecraft: Education Edition pack to help provide Minecraft education lessons for students in quarantine to continue learning at home.
Microsoft has been vocal about its ambitions to become a more environmentally conscious company and aims to become carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste by 2030. According to their first annual environmental sustainability report, the company has already made positive steps towards this goal including investing $129 million across organizations that innovate in carbon reduction and water management.
Fingers crossed that the Sustainability City map will help the next generation figure out even more ways of leading the fight against climate change.
If you're looking for a new way to build, take a look at our games like Minecraft list
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After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at 12DOVE before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training. My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.