Minecraft: Education Edition On Chromebooks Is Ready For School

It isn't just work that was suddenly plunged into a new world. Schools are also scrambling to adjust to the "new normal", which mostly means holding lessons remotely without direct teacher supervision. That also means relying more heavily on devices, of which Chromebooks and iPads are fiercely competing in the market. Whichever of the two you choose, there will now be a Minecraft learning world ready for you as developers Mojang (owned by Microsoft) rolls out at long last Chromebook support for its Education Edition.

Minecraft has truly outgrown its gaming roots in the hands of Microsoft. While already a huge hit among gamers because of its open-world mechanic that encourages creativity, Microsoft took Minecraft to other areas that include AI, research, and, of course, education. The latter makes it a perfect fit for something like a Chromebook but, alas, it took four years for the two to meet.

Of course, part of the problem was waiting for Android app support on Chromebooks to finally become stable and usable, because that's the only way you can actually get Minecraft for Chrome OS at this point. Yes, you're technically running the Android version of Minecraft: Education Edition, which also means you, or someone more knowledgeable, will need to enable Google Play Store support on the device first.

That's not the only Minecraft for Education news, though, and there's actually something for everyone no matter what device you're on. The platform gets 11 new STEM lessons, including one specifically developed to teach about honeybees and pollination (and, no, not the bees and the birds).

Of course, there is more to Minecraft than that and students might fall in love with the virtual world's coding and creative activities. And since Minecraft was designed for a multi-player world from the get-go, the game-turned-educational tool is almost a perfect fit for a new kind of schooling where you can only meet your classmates and teachers online.