Minecraft Just Unlocked Free Education Content As A COVID-19 Distraction

With the COVID-19 outbreak, a lot of things have ground to a halt, including education in some places. Schools in many regions of the world are closed until the worst of the outbreak is over, with some universities and high schools switching to online instruction. In order to help keep the wheels of education turning, Mojang and Microsoft have launched a free collection of educational content for Minecraft on the Minecraft Marketplace.

"Educators around the world are doing everything they can to provide digital lessons for the half a billion students who are out of school due to the COVID-19 pandemic," Mojang's Sofia Dankis wrote on the Minecraft blog today. "This is not an easy task and we want to do our part to help keep young minds sharp and stimulated."

Mojang has uploaded some lessons from Minecraft: Education Edition to the Minecraft Marketplace, which are free to download for everyone who owns the Bedrock Edition of the game (sorry, Java players). The lessons from the Minecraft team include the International Space Station and The Human Eye, but those Mojang-crafted missions make up only a small part of what's on offer.

That's because Mojang has also made 10 lessons from Marketplace community creators free as part of this promotion. The lessons give players the chance to explore Greek history, marine biology, bees, and even fractals, so this collection of 12 lessons covers a pretty wide range of topics.

All of them are free to download from the Marketplace until June 30th, 2020, giving you a little over three months to claim them. The full list of lessons can be viewed over on the Marketplace, and they're compatible with any device that runs the Bedrock Edition of the game.