This year’s theme—AI Aware: Safe, Smart, In Control—recognizes how deeply AI now influences students’ daily digital lives. From learning platforms, creative tools, and online interactions, AI is embedded across the digital ecosystem. With these opportunities come new expectations for digital literacy and critical thinking.

Being AI‑aware means helping learners:

• Assess content shaped by AI
• Recognize manipulative interactions or misinformation
• Protect personal data and digital identities
• Navigate online spaces with confidence, curiosity, and discernment

Safer Internet Day encourages institutions to integrate these competencies into digital citizenship instruction so students can engage with emerging AI technologies safely and responsibly.

The toolkit includes:

• Education aligned security frameworks based on Zero Trust principles
• AI‑powered tools and implementation guidance for small and large teams
• Data governance guidance for AI, learning analytics, and research environments
• Resources for student‑run Security Operations Centers (SOCs) and cybersecurity skilling
• Real campus case studies that demonstrate the impact security tools have made at institutions globally

The toolkit reframes campus cybersecurity—not as a barrier to innovation, but as a sustainable foundation that enables safe AI adoption, global collaboration, and resilient digital learning ecosystems.

Why AI safety and cybersecurity matter in education

Cybersecurity and digital safety are no longer “technical concerns”—they are essential to the mission of teaching and learning. Schools manage a wide range of sensitive information, including:

• Student records
• Learning analytics and accessibility data
• Financial aid information
• Digital credentials
• Federally funded research outputs
• Intellectual property

Campuses are intentionally open environments designed for collaboration, inquiry, and innovation. Devices change hands, systems span cloud and on-premises infrastructure, and users move fluidly across networks. That openness fuels learning—but also increases risk.

A single cybersecurity incident can disrupt instruction, halt essential services, delay research, and erode trust among students, families, faculty, and partners.

Strong security does not restrict innovation; it enables it. A secure foundation allows institutions to adopt AI, expand access, and accelerate digital transformation with confidence.

Building digital citizenship with Minecraft Education’s CyberSafe series

Digital citizenship begins long before college or career. Young learners need accessible ways to practice and internalize online safety skills without fear. Minecraft Education offers a K–12 curriculum program to help educators introduce online safety, digital awareness, and cybersecurity through immersive, age-appropriate learning experiences. The content was developed with experts across Microsoft, including Minecraft Player Safety, Xbox Trust and Safety, and the Microsoft Digital Safety Unit, and aligns to Computer Science Teacher Association (CSTA) and Cyber.org standards.

In the CyberSafe series for ages 8 to 14, students build critical thinking skills and learn positive online behavior as they explore digital risks in a safe, supported environment. The newest addition to the CyberSafe series, Bad Connection?, offers a trusted way to support digital citizenship and AI-aware learning through play for students ages 11 to 14. By introducing concepts in engaging game scenarios inspired by real life—such as manipulative interactions, suspicious messages, and peer pressure—students have a safe rehearsal space to practice:

• Evaluating risks
• Identifying red flags
• Consider actions and consequences
• Seeking help and report concerns

The goal is to equip students with language, strategies, and confidence to safely navigate online spaces and use digital technologies responsibly. By turning safety concepts into interactive experiences, CyberSafe helps reduce stigma, normalize conversations about unsafe interactions, and strengthen protective online behaviors. Minecraft Education offers free resources for educators, families, and school leaders as well as online training for educators. Explore Minecraft Education’s CyberSafe and digital citizenship resources for more information.

Supporting Safer Internet Day in schools and communities

This Safer Internet Day, we’re highlighting how everyone—students, educators, and families—plays an important role in creating safer, more confident online experiences. By opening conversations about digital safety, we can help learners build strong, healthy habits that support their well‑being wherever they connect and collaborate.

A great place to start is by opening conversations about online safety across your entire school community—students, educators, staff, and families—supported by practical, ready‑to‑use resources from Microsoft Education.

• K–12 Cybersecurity Conversation Guide—offers simple, actionable tips and prompts to help students understand safe online behavior, strengthen digital habits, and build cyber hygiene together as a school community.
• K–12 Cybersecurity Infographic—uses real examples of phishing attempts, scam ads, and suspicious links to help students and caregivers quickly learn how to spot online threats and stay vigilant.

No matter your role, here’s what you can do next:

For educators and school leaders: Use these resources to guide classroom discussions, staff professional development (PD) sessions, and schoolwide digital‑citizenship initiatives.

For IT and safety teams: Share these materials during cybersecurity awareness campaigns, family‑engagement nights, or incident‑prevention training to strengthen your institution’s safety posture.

For families and caregivers: Incorporate these tools at home to help students build safer online habits and stay informed about emerging digital risks.

Safer Internet Day 2026 invites us all—students, educators, families, and institutions—to build a safer, more informed digital world. By strengthening AI literacy, practicing responsible online behavior, and adopting robust security practices across education, we can help ensure every learner navigates AI‑powered digital spaces with curiosity, confidence, and control.

The post Safer Internet Day 2026: Helping students become AI‑aware, safe, and smart online appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Minecraft Education promotes critical thinking, teamwork, creativity, and problem-solving while helping students develop digital skills for their future. It can also help motivate learning, improve attendance, and build student agency. Educators use it for everything from building AI literacy through immersive lessons to sustainable design challenges and esports programs.

Explore this collection of Minecraft Education experiences designed to support your instruction, boost engagement, and inspire creativity in the classroom. Parents and caregivers can also support their child’s learning outside of school with Minecraft Education. With materials like a digital safety family toolkit, you’ll find ways to use Minecraft to explore important topics at home, too. Discover Minecraft Education resources for parents and families today.

Digital citizenship, coding, and AI

Today’s students are growing up in a world shaped by digital tools, AI, and rapid technological change. Minecraft Education helps prepare them to navigate that world responsibly and confidently. With Minecraft Education, students can engage in hands-on experiences that help them strengthen digital citizenship, explore responsible AI use, and build coding fluency all within a familiar and playful learning space that connects to their everyday lives.

Check out these Minecraft Education worlds designed to help students explore, create, and grow as digital citizens.

• CyberSafe AI: Dig Deeper – Build digital citizenship and AI literacy skills with CyberSafe AI: Dig Deeper. This engaging adventure challenges students to go beyond the surface and explore responsible AI, critical thinking, and data literacy. Don’t just accept AI at face value—dig deeper and discover the power of mindful technology use!
• Hour of Code: The Show Must Go On – Step into a vibrant theater world to help save the day in Minecraft’s Hour of Code 2024: The Show Must Go On. In this adventure, students will explore the theater to find the missing star, the Agent, while solving fun coding puzzles and interacting with lively characters. They’ll unlock hidden gags, customize the show, and plan an unforgettable performance.
• GameCode – Empower creative coding with this dynamic curriculum where students create their own arcade-style mini-games and learn computer science along the way. This immersive and innovative approach to coding will ignite the passion for programming in students as they become inventive game designers, empowered to shape their digital landscapes.

These experiences introduce students to essential digital concepts while allowing them to iterate and build in a safe, creative environment. Demystify complex subjects like AI and coding with your students through game-based learning with Minecraft.

Core subjects and STEM

It can be challenging to make abstract academic concepts feel exciting, relevant, and accessible. That’s where Minecraft Education comes in. These standards-aligned experiences are designed to help students connect with core instruction in ways that are hands-on and meaningful. From environmental science and astronomy to math and history, these worlds help students engage deeply with content through inquiry, experimentation, and creativity.

Explore these worlds to help your students apply academic concepts across subject areas.

• Ocean Heroes – Embark on a marine conservation adventure in Ocean Heroes, presented by the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and Voice of the Ocean. Students will investigate ocean ecosystems alongside scientists and help them tackle environmental challenges in mangrove forests, coral reefs, and kelp forests. Along the way, they’ll encounter amazing creatures, enhance their ocean literacy, and develop critical problem-solving skills.
• Data Explorers – Build data science and sustainability skills in this world, created by ReWrite Edu in collaboration with NetApp and World’s Largest Lesson. This choose-your-next-path style game takes students across five different ecosystems in search of scientists who help them use data to solve specific environmental problems. Along the way, students can hone their data collection and analysis skills, as well as see how scientists apply data to real-world problems.
• Ratio Riddles – Introduce the concepts of ratio, proportion, fractions, and scale through a series of three engaging games designed for students ages 8-14. This is an easy-to-teach lesson designed to engage learners in foundational mathematics principles while fostering curiosity and confidence.
• Peter is Here: AI for Cultural Heritage – Step into the heart of history! Peter is Here: AI for Cultural Heritage is a captivating experience where students journey through 2,000 years of architectural innovation. Inspired by real-world preservation efforts, this immersive project lets young explorers use simulated AI tools to restore ancient wonders, from Roman engineering to Baroque masterpieces, and explore the history of St. Peters Basilica in Vatican City.
• James Webb Space Telescope Challenge – Explore the universe with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia (NSW) science curricula, this immersive lesson lets students learn about the telescope’s mission, star formation, and galaxies, culminating in a solar system build challenge. Inspire future astronomers with this cosmic adventure!

These experiences support cross-curricular connections and help students build a deeper understanding of academic content and inspire curiosity through game-based learning. Get started and explore immersive content in core subjects for students of all ages.

Creative classroom fun

Sometimes the best learning happens when students are free to explore, experiment, and play. Minecraft Education’s open-ended experiences empower students to express themselves, collaborate with peers, and build creative confidence. These activities are perfect for community-building, project-based learning, or moments when your classroom needs a spark of joy.

Try these student-centered worlds to foster classroom culture and creativity.

• Wheel of Steve – Spin the Wheel of Steve in this educational adventure inspired by A Minecraft Movie. Created for students aged 8-14, Wheel of Steve supports play for up to eight learners at a time. Two teams will compete against each other in five cooperative minigames designed to strengthen key skills including creativity, collaboration, communication, community, and critical thinking.
• Renewtopia – Explore a unique island and learn about four different types of renewable energy: solar, tidal, wind, and geothermal. This interactive build challenge teaches learners about sustainable energy sources by building an exhibit for a sustainable energy fair. Their goal is to teach others about one or more of the renewable power sources found on the island.

These experiences are great for building relationships, strengthening classroom community, and letting students lead their own learning in joyful, meaningful ways. Engage your students’ creativity and strengthen future-ready skills in your classroom.

Get support and inspiration for game-based learning with Minecraft

No matter where you are in your Minecraft Education journey, there’s a community and a collection of free resources ready to help you succeed. Connect with fellow educators, participate in special events, and explore learning modules, challenges, and ideas to bring Minecraft into your classroom:

• Free training to teach AI Foundations—register for upcoming live events and view on-demand training.
• Learn the basics in the Minecraft Teacher Academy course.
• Join the Minecraft Teachers’ Lounge community.

Whether you’re helping students understand responsible technology use, reinforce academic content, or build a thriving classroom culture, Minecraft Education offers immersive worlds that make learning engaging and meaningful. These experiences aren’t just lessons—they’re launchpads for curiosity, creativity, and confidence.

Check out Minecraft Education to explore the full collection of lessons, access educator resources, and start teaching with the power of play today.

The post Bring learning to life with Minecraft Education appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

We’ll showcase some of the latest product enhancements and features that can help you increase student engagement, refine your instructional techniques, and simplify your workflow. Additionally, we’ll share professional learning opportunities to help you grow and enhance your skills. Let’s dive in and explore some of the latest developments from Microsoft Education.

Simplify your workflow and enhance student engagement

Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and agents

We recently introduced Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, an offering that adds pay-as-you-go agents to our existing free chat experience for Microsoft 365 education customers. Copilot Chat is the experience you can use every day—powered by broad knowledge from the web, built on the latest AI models, and designed to be safe and secure. 

You can customize your Copilot Chat experience with AI agents tailored to your specific needs. Simply provide the agent with institutional files—such as a lesson plan template and language usage guidelines—to create specialized assistants, like a “lesson plan agent” that aligns to your institution’s standards.

Advancements in AI

At Bett UK 2025, we announced AI-powered products and resources to help boost your efficiency, expedite your administrative processes, and enhance student engagement. Some highlights include:

• Copilot+ PCs – featuring enhanced security, optimized performance, and AI-integrated experiences. Now with code name Project Spark—our first education-focused Windows 11 app for Copilot+ PC—to bring on-device intelligence to your classroom.
• Microsoft Education AI Toolkit – new resources and updates help leaders deliver safer AI experiences in their schools.
• Minecraft Lesson Crafter – an AI-powered tool that helps you design custom lesson plans in Minecraft Education, while also practicing how to write effective AI prompts.
• Khanmigo for Teachers – provides over 20 free, AI-powered tools to help streamline class prep with no prompting required.
• Khanmigo Writing Coach – designed by educators, it uses AI to make essay writing an interactive experience and provide students with step-by-step guidance without ever writing a word for them.

Learning Accelerators and Teams Assignments updates

Help your students build foundational and future-ready skills with Learning Accelerators, a set of learning tools included in Microsoft 365 Education. Support ongoing improvement and give your students more opportunities to learn, practice, and receive targeted coaching instantly in an inclusive environment. Check out some of the latest updates to Learning Accelerators:

• Reading Coach is now available as a free, standalone app. Explore how Reading Coach helps students build reading fluency with AI-powered reading practice.
• Math Progress is now available with Microsoft Teams for Education, making it easier for you to create math problems, track student performance, and identify learning needs.
• Speaker Progress now allows students to upload their own PowerPoints and provides real-time feedback on their presentation skills like pacing, pitch, and body language. Also, more languages are now available in Speaker Progress, including Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean.
• Teams Assignments are now integrated with Blackboard by Anthology—bringing Learning Accelerators, MakeCode projects, Reflect check-ins, and other tools directly into the learning management system (LMS).

Whether you’re helping students become more confident readers, strengthening math skills, or improving public speaking, these updates make it easier to support student learning and engagement.

Dig Deeper into the world of AI with Minecraft

The CyberSafe series from Minecraft Education uses game-based learning to help students boost their digital citizenship skills. In the latest installment, CyberSafe AI: Dig Deeper, learners develop skills to use AI tools responsibly by tackling real-world challenges and exploring questions of academic integrity, human oversight, data privacy, and deepfakes. Discover this fun Minecraft world and empower your students to think critically and use AI responsibly.

Stay ahead with professional learning opportunities

Level up cybersecurity curriculum with MSLE

Bringing AI, cybersecurity, and digital safety into the classroom is easier with the right support. The Microsoft Learn for Educators (MSLE) program offers professional learning opportunities that help you integrate these important topics into your teaching with confidence. The MSLE Cybersecurity and AI Bootcamp provides:

• Train-the-trainer sessions led by Microsoft experts.
• Flexible resources to help you incorporate AI and cybersecurity into any subject area.
• Support for preparing students for Microsoft Certification exams.

With expert guidance and ready-to-use resources, this program helps you equip students with the knowledge they need for the future.

Tap into possibilities for innovation

Inspiring a new generation of learners

Microsoft welcomed nearly 30,000 Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts (MIEE) and 600 Microsoft Showcase Schools (SCS) for the 2024-2025 academic year. These educators and schools are leading the way in enhancing learning through technology, and they’re poised to make an even greater impact in the year ahead. Interested in joining these inspiring communities? Learn more about the programs and details about the nomination process for each.

Education pricing for Microsoft 365 Archive

In today’s digital landscape, educational institutions require strong information management to fully leverage AI. Effective information governance helps ensure that AI applications use accurate, complete, and reliable data to generate meaningful insights and improve outcomes. Microsoft 365 Archive can help you manage your data and is now available for qualifying education tenants at education pricing.

Whether you want to try new ways to engage your students, boost your professional learning, or tap into possibilities for innovation at your school, Microsoft Education has tools and experiences for you to explore. Dive in and get started today!

The post Amplify learning with updates from Microsoft Education appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Safer Internet Day 2025 offers us an opportunity to “work together for a better internet” today and throughout the year. Join us to help students improve their digital literacy skills and explore the responsible use of AI with CyberSafe AI: Dig Deeper and other exciting resources.

Dig deeper into the world of AI with Minecraft

Minecraft Education’s CyberSafe series uses game-based learning to help students boost their digital citizenship skills like recognizing common online threats, building strategies to protect themselves, and exploring ways to safeguard their personal information. In the latest installment, CyberSafe AI: Dig Deeper, learners develop skills to use AI tools responsibly by tackling real-world challenges and exploring questions of academic integrity, human oversight, data privacy, and deepfakes. Immerse your students in this fun Minecraft world and empower them to think critically and use AI responsibly. This collection includes an educator guide and classroom-ready PowerPoint and family toolkit for at-home learning.

Keep the adventure going with more lessons in Minecraft’s CyberSafe series:

• Home Sweet Hmm: Students learn to recognize common threats on the internet, build strategies for protecting themselves and their information, and to know where to go if they need help.
• Privacy Prodigy: Students explore what personal data is, who should have access to their data, when it’s acceptable to share their data, and how to manage their personal data.
• Good Game: Students build digital literacy and digital citizenship skills while learning the responsibilities, tools, responses, and strategies needed to foster digital well-being and build positive connections.

Teach cyber safety with Minecraft

Created through partnerships with industry experts, Minecraft Education has lessons focused on cybersecurity, online safety, and digital citizenship aligned to Cyber.org and CSTA standards. The full cyber curriculum progression helps students of all ages build foundational skills and offers pathways and credentialing for careers in cyber.

Built into age-appropriate bands, the activities build incrementally and give you easy entry points through lesson plans and video tutorials. Explore the curriculum collections that you can start using anytime:

• CyberSafe: Teach students ages 7-11 cyber and digital safety skills with topics like online safety, spotting phishing scams, password protection, and cloud storage for photos. Introduce digital citizenship, data privacy, and data centers, aiming to protect personal data and raise career awareness in the digital world.
• Cyber Fundamentals: Empower students ages 10-14 through hands-on experiences in building network components and encrypting data. Students will investigate malware and save the school’s network as part of the Incident Response Team.
• Cyber Expert: Build digital fluency and cyber skills in students ages 13-18. They’ll explore encryption, social engineering, the effects of malware, and techniques to combat it. They’ll learn to prevent digital threats, fix affected systems, and explore cybersecurity careers.

Cyber safety resources for educators

Preparing your students to navigate the digital world starts with developing your own skills and confidence around tools and knowledge to teach cyber safety effectively. Microsoft Education offers resources designed to support educators, school leaders, and families, to build students’ cyber skills.

Begin discussing internet safety with students with help from these resources from Microsoft Education:

• K-12 Cybersecurity Conversation Guide: Get practical tips and conversation starters for talking about safe online practices and cyber hygiene with your students.
• K-12 Cybersecurity Infographic: Use visual examples of phishing links and scam ads to teach students how to identify online threats.

Explore Microsoft Learn modules designed to enhance your instructional strategies and cybersecurity proficiency:

• Build cybersecurity resilience in K-12 classrooms: Gain skills to anticipate common cyber threats, implement security measures, and educate others to build a strong cybersecurity culture that helps protect yourself and your students.
• Boost K-12 school cybersecurity leadership: Learn to apply Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recommended cybersecurity practices to foster awareness and preparedness, safeguard schools, and counter cyber threats effectively.

Expand your teaching toolkit with a deeper dive into Minecraft Education:

• Join the Minecraft Teacher Academy to access free on-demand resources and training.
• Connect with over 10,000 educators and experts in the Minecraft Teachers’ Lounge for tips and ideas.

Tackling abusive AI-generated content risks through education and empowerment

For almost a decade, Microsoft has marked Safer Internet Day by releasing research on how individuals of all ages perceive and experience risk online. Last year, we highlighted the growing importance of AI. This year, in our ninth Global Online Safety Survey, we’ve dug deeper to understand how people view and are using this technology, as well as how well they can identify AI-generated content.

Our findings show that while there’s been a global increase in active AI users (up to 51% compared to 38% in 2023), worries about the technology have also increased: 88% of people were worried about generative AI, compared to 83% last year. Further, our data confirms that people have difficulty in identifying AI-generated content, which may amplify abusive AI content risks.

We’re committed to advancing AI responsibly to realize its benefits. Fundamental to this is the work we do to protect our users from potential harms. Last year, we launched a Family Safety Toolkit, which provides guidance on how to leverage Microsoft’s safety features and family safety settings to support and enhance digital parenting, plus guidance for families looking to navigate the world of generative AI together.

We’re announcing a new partnership with Childnet, a leading UK organization dedicated to making the internet a safer place for children. Together, we’re developing educational materials aimed at preventing the misuse of AI, such as the creation of deepfakes. These resources will be available to schools and families, providing valuable information on how to protect children from online risks.

Join us and celebrate Safer Internet Day on February 11, 2025. Online safety activities and resources from Microsoft and Minecraft Education can support and empower your school community. Get started today and help everyone navigate the digital world safely and confidently.

The post Leading the way to a safer internet together appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

This year, inspire your students to build a strong foundation for AI literacy with Minecraft Education and Microsoft resources, opening doors to exciting, AI-powered careers.

Build AI literacy and fuel STEM fascination with Minecraft Education

Minecraft Education’s AI Foundations offers an exciting opportunity to integrate AI literacy into your STEM lessons in a fun, interactive way. This comprehensive resource is designed for learners ages 8 and above and turns abstract AI concepts into immersive learning experiences through a platform they already love.

Featuring bite-sized animated videos, free teaching materials, a parent guide, and imaginative new Minecraft worlds where players solve real world problems and explore AI-related careers, AI Foundations builds AI literacy and fosters a love for problem-solving and creativity. Explore these three exciting offerings from AI Foundations.

Discover the power of AI through Fantastic Fairgrounds

Kick off your AI literacy lessons with the Fantastic Fairgrounds world, which introduces students to AI through engaging gameplay. They’ll assist Park Director Leslie in solving real-world problems in the park’s pavilions. Through interactive, hands-on challenges, students explore foundational AI concepts, practice data analysis, and tackle dilemmas. By the end of this experience, students will have a better understanding of AI fundamentals and gain insights into potential AI career paths.

Harness AI to address global challenges in AI for Earth

Help your students dive deeper into AI’s real-world potential through the AI for Earth collection. With five engaging lessons, students are introduced to how AI can help solve environmental challenges such as water quality monitoring, ocean observations, and sustainable farming. Each lesson highlights the tangible ways AI can be a force for good in addressing global issues.

Through these lessons, students will develop their problem-solving skills and gain deeper insights into how AI can make a difference in areas like environmental sustainability. Whether your students aspire to be engineers, data scientists, or policymakers, this collection demonstrates AI’s broader impact.

Journey into the world of AI with AI Adventures videos

Explore AI with your students in the exciting AI Adventures video series. These three bite-sized videos make AI approachable for everyone. Your students will join two curious companions as they discover the wonders of AI, its problem-solving capabilities, and the importance of responsible AI usage. The series, produced in partnership with Microsoft’s Democracy Forward initiative, begins with AI 101: Building the Basics, where an unlikely pair of friends learn how AI systems work.

The series also contains AI in Action: Using AI Tools Responsibly and AI for Good: Solving Problems with AI. Both videos underscore the importance of trustworthy AI use. These videos are not only informative but also fun, making them a great way to break down complex ideas.

By integrating AI literacy through Minecraft Education, educators empower students with essential STEM skills that combine problem-solving, creativity, and data-driven thinking with real-world AI applications. As AI becomes central to STEM fields like environmental science, healthcare, and technology, building these foundational skills prepares students for dynamic careers that drive innovation. Whether they aim to be engineers, data scientists, or researchers, these resources make AI a tangible and transformative part of STEM learning, ensuring students are ready to lead in a world where AI plays an essential role in shaping the future.

If you’re looking for even more ways to integrate AI into learning experiences, check out:

• Minecraft Prompt Lab: Learn how to use Microsoft Copilot with sample prompts to create dynamic game-based learning experiences.
• Hour of Code: Generation AI: Explore engaging coding tutorials that introduce students to AI concepts and considerations.

Teach foundational generative AI concepts with our classroom toolkit

The AI Classroom Toolkit is a creative resource that blends engaging narrative stories with instructional information to create an immersive learning experience for educators and students aged 13-15 years. Available in multiple languages, the AI Classroom Toolkit is accessible to a wide range of students, making it a versatile resource for fostering digital and AI literacy in diverse educational settings.

The toolkit is designed to assist you in initiating important conversations about responsible AI practices in the classroom. Students will gain valuable insights and develop practical skills to enhance their digital safety including:

• Fact-checking
• Cultivating good digital hygiene habits
• Safeguarding their data privacy
• Adopting strategies to manage their mental wellbeing effectively

This adaptable resource allows you to cover everything in a single lesson or break the information into four parts to offer more time for discussion and reflection. It also features guided “Try It Yourself” activities that let students explore various AI tools and applications. These hands-on experiences enrich the lessons, but aren’t essential for achieving the core learning objectives, offering flexibility for classrooms regardless of their adoption of generative AI tools.

Use this quick video guide to help you plan how to use the toolkit with your students. It offers practical tips on structuring your teaching sessions, ensuring students grasp the essentials of generative AI at a comfortable pace. If you’re comfortable with generative AI concepts and ready to start using the toolkit, this may be the easiest place to begin.

Empower your classroom with AI literacy skills

If you’re interested in learning more about AI on your own, check out our AI for educators learning pathway. It offers modules that break down essential AI concepts and showcase real-world applications that can enrich your classroom. From automating routine tasks to supporting personalized learning, you’ll discover practical and interesting ways to integrate AI into teaching and learning with tools like Microsoft Copilot.

As technology continues to advance, the need for qualified professionals in AI-fueled STEM fields will only increase. National STEM Day is an opportunity to ignite your students’ passion for STEM and equip them with the vital AI literacy they need to thrive in the future. Use these resources and tools from Minecraft Education and Microsoft to help you innovate on November 8 and empower students to become active participants in shaping the AI-powered world of tomorrow.

The post Full STEM ahead: Inspire students with AI-powered innovation on National STEM Day 2024 appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Cybersecurity isn’t just about computer programs that prevent bad actors from accessing devices and systems, it’s also about empowering students, educators, and staff with the knowledge to stay informed and vigilant. Understanding how cyber criminals target schools, the tricks they use to sneak in, and what you can do to stop them in their tracks is key to keeping your community more secure.

This October, let’s “Secure Our World” together. From conversation tips to hands-on experiences like Minecraft Education worlds, you’ll find cybersecurity resources to enhance your classroom instruction.

Starting the cybersecurity conversation

Starting a conversation about cybersecurity with students is a simple and effective way to build cyber habits that keep everyone safer online. Cyber criminals often use clever social engineering tactics to trick someone into downloading malicious software or revealing their personal information. Students might be more at risk because they’re still learning to spot the difference between legitimate messages and potential threats.

Key points to discuss about phishing

Phishing is a common tactic used by cybercriminals to trick individuals into revealing personal information. Here are some essential points to cover with your students:

• Avoid clicking unknown links: Hackers use phishing links to infiltrate your life. These links can appear in text messages, emails, QR codes, search engines, websites, social media posts, and direct messages.
• Don’t access QR codes that seem too good to be true: Hackers have started using QR codes, a technique called Quishing, that direct unsuspecting users to a data harvesting or phishing page to collect personal data. Often they’re disguised as free giveaways or other compelling offers.
• Be aware of social engineering: Hackers may impersonate family members, friends, teachers, or authority figures to gain your trust and extract information.
• Recognize red flags: Phishing messages often contain misspellings, convey a sense of urgency, or offer fake rewards. Always hover over links to see where they lead before clicking.

Examples of when to be extra vigilant

It’s important to teach students to be extra cautious in certain scenarios. Here are some examples for both primary and secondary level students:

Primary school students

• Researching information for a class report.
• Looking for online math tutoring courses.
• Searching for online videos and citing unverified information in schoolwork.
• Messaging a teacher with a question.

Secondary school students

• Differentiating between ads and organic posts on social media.
• Receiving messages asking for passwords or threatening account lockouts.
• Being direct messaged with unknown links and urged to click them.
• Searching for jobs and applying to scam companies.
• Researching and applying for college or trade school.
• Receiving friend requests from duplicated profiles of known individuals.

Even a quick 10-minute discussion about cybersecurity can significantly boost your school’s overall safety. You might also want to share these tips with families so that they can reinforce these important lessons at home.

Hands-on, minds-on experiences with Minecraft Education

Teaching cybersecurity concepts to students is easy with the Minecraft Education Cyber and Digital Citizenship collection of worlds and accompanying educator guides. The worlds include a progression of standards-aligned lessons that span elementary through post-secondary education. Just like other Minecraft Education experiences, students immerse themselves in a virtual world where they accomplish tasks, collaborate with others, and engage in activities that teach cyber safety and security—all while having a lot of fun!

Minecraft cyber education content has been downloaded more than 80 million times, and the CyberSafe series is also available for Bedrock players on the Minecraft Marketplace. The Cyber and Digital Citizenship collection is broken down into four age-appropriate bands:

• CyberSafe (ages 7-11): Introduces students to basic cybersecurity concepts like online safety, healthy gaming interactions, and digital citizenship practices.
• Cyber Fundamentals (ages 10-14): Expands students’ knowledge about cybersecurity by covering malware, personally identifiable information (PII) threat analysis, and data protection steps.
• Cyber Expert (ages 13-18): Deepens understanding with a focus on social engineering, ransomware, and the importance of using backup software.
• Cyber Defense (ages 14-18, 18 and older): Offers an advanced look at access control systems, cybersecurity careers, and ways to earn cybersecurity certificates.

In our largely online world, learners need to develop the skills they’ll need to navigate online spaces safely, and confidently. Educators also need the right tools to empower their students to be cyber safe. Minecraft Education’s cybersecurity curriculum helps learners of all ages become cyber heroes—protecting their data, using the Internet safely, and modeling digital citizenship. Stay tuned for new cyber content in Minecraft Education for Safer Internet Day—a global day of celebration in February each year.

If you’re new to Minecraft Education or need a refresher, sign up for a one-hour training as part of Minecraft Teacher Academy. Explore more professional learning, either on-demand or with a live cohort.

Inspiring cybersecurity champions

In addition to cybersecurity resources for the classroom, we also offer unique opportunities for students who are interested in pursuing careers in cybersecurity. With Microsoft, your students can:

• Discover diverse mentorship opportunities: Explore the many learning and mentorship opportunities Microsoft and partner organizations provide so that all students can see themselves in cybersecurity.
• Explore educational opportunities: Discover how Microsoft and the Last Mile Fund can help students earn a cybersecurity degree through scholarships for financial assistance and cybersecurity exam costs.
• Get certified to fight cybercrime: Eligible students can get their Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals certification for free and earn college credit while doing so. Visit the Microsoft Learn Student Hub: Student certifications to learn about all the available certifications and how to enroll.

Build your knowledge with cybersecurity training for educators

Your own cybersecurity awareness and knowledge plays a critical role in your school’s overall security strategy. Cyber criminals know that educators are busy and may quickly respond to urgent messages or irresistible deals. By learning to distinguish between legitimate and suspicious messages or links, you are less likely to fall victim to social engineering tactics designed to steal private information.

To help strengthen your cybersecurity skills, Microsoft offers cybersecurity training modules for educators. “Build cybersecurity resilience in K-12 classrooms with Microsoft tools” is a comprehensive introduction designed for educators. This module covers essential concepts like how to anticipate cyber threats and secure your device, identity, and online activities. It includes:

• Explanations of common threats like phishing, malware, and ransomware.
• Tips for protecting your passwords and PII.
• Strategies for maintaining privacy when working online.
• Steps to take if you fall victim to a cyber-attack.
• Ideas for teaching cybersecurity to students.
• Information on joining cybersecurity groups that offer educator resources.

If you’re interested in using Minecraft Education to teach cybersecurity, be sure to check out “Minecraft Education lessons: Teach cybersecurity concepts with Minecraft Education.” This Microsoft Learn module covers:

• Explanations of Minecraft worlds that provide cybersecurity instruction to K-12 students.
• Overview of the differences between resources for upper elementary, middle school, high school, and post-secondary students.
• Topics featured in the Minecraft cybersecurity worlds.
• Types of activities that students complete while learning in Minecraft.

By joining Microsoft for Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2024, you’re not just protecting your school—you’re empowering the next generation of cybersecurity champions. Dive into the tools and resources to spark student interest and help them build their skills to thrive in the digital world. Together, let’s make your classroom a community of cyber-savvy learners. Stay safe and inspire those future cyber heroes!

The post Teach cybersecurity with Microsoft and Minecraft Education appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Impact of computer science

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, computer science careers are expected to grow by over 600,000, a 15 percent increase, by 2031. Unfortunately, computer science courses are not available for all learners in US schools. Presently, only 53 percent offer computer science courses.

The curriculum and training offered by Minecraft: Education Edition provide an entry point for schools and educators to adopt and teach CS curriculum. Designed for learners from pre-literacy through high school, Minecraft’s CS progression offers opportunities for students to develop computational thinking and practice both block-based coding and Python. It is built on three tenants that guide the code building experience.

• Drive meaningful learning through integrating real-world issues in immersive, imaginative worlds
• Prepare for digital future by developing computational thinking skills with in-game coding and curriculum
• Build social-emotional skills like empathy and learn digital citizenship

Code Builder is an in-game coding feature that integrates with Microsoft MakeCode and Azure Notebooks, providing an easy, drag and drop canvas for students to create programs to run in Minecraft. The MakeCode interface within Code Builder offers step-by-step directions as students get started so they can become accustomed to various blocks and ways they can customize them; it’s a fun and easy way to learn the basics.

Check out Code Builder in action for this delightful introductory lesson in block coding with MakeCode.

Get set up to code in Minecraft: Education Edition

To introduce coding into the classroom with Minecraft, use this three-part process:

1. Get set up

Before introducing coding to students, build your own foundation. Remember, you don’t have to be a coding or Minecraft expert. It’s as easy as downloading and installing Minecraft: Education Edition onto your device, trying a simple demo lesson with Hour of Code, and exploring training opportunities.

If you’re new to coding, open the app and try the Hour of Code demo lesson. You’ll learn how to code using blocks with Microsoft MakeCode, the starting point for students too. Go beyond that first hour with easy starter lessons, professional development, or classroom challenges.

Minecraft: Education Edition offers more than 25 hours of free online trainings designed for educators to teach Computer Science. If you’re totally new to Minecraft, start with the Minecraft Teacher Academy, 3 1-hour modules on how to use Minecraft with educational strategies for classroom integration. Check out the 1-hour free online training Intro to Coding with Minecraft to bring coding into your classroom with confidence.

2. Teach with Minecraft

Once you’ve explored the basics on your own, you’ll be ready to teach coding lessons. Minecraft: Education Edition offers a CS progression for primary to secondary learners, helping progress students from block-based coding to Python with standards-based content. With 200 hours of CS content for all levels and abilities, you’re sure to find what you need. Each lesson includes educator resources, rubrics, and Minecraft files to help students have fun while developing computer science skills.

If you’ve done Hour of Code already and are ready for the next step, start with Computing with Minecraft, a 30-hour, 10-unit set of materials based on CSTA standards that teaches learners about conditionals, functions, coordinates, and more in block-based coding.

Here are some other example lessons that utilize Code Builder to teach computational thinking:

• Hour of Code: Escape Estate is the latest one-hour intro to coding lesson in the annual Hour of Code series. Students complete puzzles with code to escape a mysterious mansion.
• Compute a Zoo challenges students to use block-based code to create a zoo entrance and animal enclosures.
• Sea Turtle Assistance bridges biology, ecology, and computer science as students use algorithms to help protect sea turtles.
• In Python 101: Lesson 9, students decompose problems and write code to design a game.

In addition to lesson plans, Minecraft: Education Edition features regular build challenges that engage students’ creativity and strengthen 21st-century skills. Here are two fun Code Builder challenges:

• Harvest Time has students take on multiple tasks to improve harvesting efficiency and then use creative coding skills to carve a pumpkin.
• In Number Line Railroad, students explore the relationship between numbers by completing a number line and connecting the railroad segments.

3. Find your community

Visit the Community page to join Minecraft: Education Edition’s global community of educators and peer mentors. Meet and learn from passionate educators, gain access to new lessons and teaching resources, find upcoming events, and bring immersive learning to your students.

Connect with the experts within your classroom to help you explore teaching with Minecraft. Schools around the country, including Atlanta Public Schools, have established Student Ambassador programs where students serve as Minecraft experts for educators and peers. Sign up for an upcoming Student Ambassador training cohort or take the free online course on Microsoft Learn.

Celebrate computer science with Hour of Code

Another exciting way to bring Code Builder into the classroom is through Minecraft Hour of Code, a series of fun, engaging coding tutorials for any learner—including educators and parents! Hour of Code is a global initiative designed to demystify coding and broaden participation in the field of computer science.

In the newest Minecraft tutorial, Hour of Code: Escape Estate, students learn basic coding concepts to escape a mysterious mansion by dawn. Along the way they will solve puzzles using computational thinking to unlock secrets, open trap doors, and reveal hidden clues. Minecraft Hour of Code is available as a free demo lesson, so anyone can download and play.

Check out the trailer to the new Minecraft Hour of Code!

Minecraft: Education Edition helps students prepare for the future by prioritizing digital fluency skills, promoting community, encouraging a coding mindset, and teaching computational thinking. Begin your computer science journey today!

The post Anyone can teach coding with Minecraft appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

That’s why we’re looking forward to seeing so many of you in person at ISTE 2022 from June 26 to June 29 in New Orleans and virtually. At Microsoft, our vision for education is to empower every student on the planet to achieve more. This year at ISTE, we will feature partners in the Microsoft booth that embody this spirit through our four pillars.

Pillar One: Accelerate Learning

Real-time data insights can accelerate learning and support career and workforce development. The following partners and their solutions are leading the way.

Beedle is designed for teachers to manage all aspects of their work, within one simple app, within Microsoft Teams. The app features tools and resources tailored to the modern educator’s daily needs, bringing powerful teaching and engaging functionality to Microsoft Teams. It helps educators save time, engage more easily with parents, and support their students’ overall success—all through a single, familiar platform.  

Canva for Education makes it easy to create, collaborate, and communicate visually in the classroom and beyond. It’s 100% free for K-12 teachers and their students. Canva also integrates with Teams and has a large collection of editable Flipgrid backgrounds and frames.

Classter is designed to allow educational institutions to manage student data in an all-in-one school and learning management solution. Its cloud-based architecture provides flexibility for hybrid learning environments and different modes of teaching.

ClickView uses leading industry technology, innovative curation, data, and customer insights to transform learning experiences through video. Students and teachers can access visually stunning, curriculum-aligned video content and an interactive interface for questions and assessments.

Dugga is an all-in-one assessment platform for teachers. It has exams, tests, quizzes, and assignments all in one place so that teachers can create, schedule, and grade exams seamlessly. With Dugga, schools can provide equal assessment opportunities, which is crucial for every student’s learning process.

Edword from EasyCorrect is an online toolbox that makes feedback on written work more engaging. It transforms the way students learn and work while helping teachers save time. Teachers can follow students’ progress, learn about how their students’ time is spent and engage with them through comments.

EdPuzzle’s “make any video your lesson” allows educators to personalize videos, and then provides them with real-time data insights about formative assessment items embedded in videos. Teachers can share their videos via Microsoft Teams and can use the video on group calls. They can also access the embedded screen recorder, which enables them to record videos and then immediately edit them.

Impero’s suite monitors every device to safeguard students, prevent harmful and malicious content, and keep them productive online. Impero Classroom is fully embedded in Microsoft Teams, allowing teachers to monitor student activity and provide resources and support in real-time while also taking advantage of all Teams features in a single interface.

Kami is an interactive learning platform that empowers educators to teach, provide feedback, and assess students in a real-time collaborative experience. With Kami, teachers and students work in tandem using a wide range of annotation and multimedia tools compatible with any web browser. And because of its Teams integration and OneDrive Single Sign-on (SSO), Kami expands the teacher toolkit with ease.

Mindsets accelerates collaboration and student success in math with Microsoft SSO to help students get started quickly. Microsoft Immersive Reader initiates collaboration across many languages so that it can help all students be successful.

Nurture helps teachers create personalized feedback informed by pedagogical frameworks without requiring them to dig into the research themselves. It guides them through high quality, formative feedback, and assessment. For students, better feedback leads to more engagement and improved learning outcomes.

Territorium is developed to help students prepare for the careers they want. It helps administrators identify and track student competencies, skills, proof of learning, and outcomes, as well as jobs and career pathways that match these skills profiles.

ThingLink helps create personalized learning experiences that are proven to improve student outcomes. Teachers can track engagement on all learning materials, videos, virtual tours, and educational research. ThingLink scenes can also be embedded in Microsoft PowerPoint O365 with ThingLink for PowerPoint Add-In.

Pillar Two: Foster Well-being

Well-being, including emotional well-being, directly affects students’ motivation, engagement, and learning. The following partners focus on the mental health of students and deliver easily implementable solutions. 

Attender is a groundbreaking way for teachers to mark attendance. It uses gamification to motivate students to attend class. With a recently released Teams integration, Attender can automatically mark students’ attendance while they’re learning online. 

eCare Vault’s Safe Spaces application allows educators and school staff to support student mental health through a privacy-compliant collaboration workspace directly from Microsoft Teams. At its core, eCare Vault provides personalized pathways that increase mental well-being, engaged learning and productivity.  

Districts and schools across the world are rapidly adopting Microsoft Teams to facilitate remote and hybrid learning. Lightspeed Systems is here to help ensure that learning within the platform is safe and effective. Lightspeed Alert™ and Lightspeed Classroom Management™ fully integrate with Microsoft Teams to empower district leaders and educators with the visibility, actionable insights, and tools needed to ensure student safety and engagement while learning, whether hybrid or remote.

Natterhub teaches K-6 students the soft skills that underpin positive digital citizenship. The app prepares students to thrive online by using a gated space where soft skills can be applied, tracked, and assessed. Natterhub is aligned to the curriculum with more than 350 interactive lessons and activities.

Pear Deck is designed to support proven strategies in daily classroom instruction, making it easy for teachers to follow best practices that reduce achievement gaps and improve outcomes for all students. The Pear Deck ecosystem works with Office 365 logins, PowerPoint Online, and integrates with Teams.  

Senso.Cloud is an all-in-one software for network, classroom, safeguarding, monitoring, and asset management. It supports Microsoft Teams chats and uses extensive keyword libraries to support well-being and safety related to issues such as bullying, self-harm, weapons and violence, drugs, extremism, and more. Senso’s software also has built-in AI that supports image analysis to identify threats and changes by using simple and quick e-discovery.

School Day improves students’ well-being and social-emotional learning (SEL) by asking them questions about their well-being, then analyzing the data and providing real-time insights. It highlights what’s going well in the classroom and provides easily implementable solutions. Whether in a single classroom or at the school and district levels, School Day helps students and educators around the world understand how well-being improves learning outcomes. When students feel good, they learn better.

Soundtrap enables students and teachers to capture their creativity, use their voice, and choose their pathways for creative projects. It not only supports student engagement, but also enhances the social-emotional learning experience by empowering students to make authentic choices about how they demonstrate their knowledge. Soundtrap works in collaboration with Microsoft Reflect to highlight how music and podcasting can be positive and proactive coping tools for SEL challenges.

Pillar Three: Inclusively Designed

Every student deserves the resources and support they need to reach their full potential. Tools that are inclusively designed are key to this pillar, and the following partners are exemplary in their support.

Antares amplifies the teaching and learning experience on Teams by engaging students and teachers in discussions beyond the classroom material and encouraging knowledge sharing through questions and answers. Teachers can proactively schedule content throughout the term to engage students in discussions. 

BookWidgets is a content creation and evaluation tool for teachers. With BookWidgets, teachers can create more than 40 interactive exercises and auto-graded assignments with over 35 different question types. All teachers from all courses can easily use BookWidgets by using the Microsoft Teams integration. This integration enables teachers to follow student progress in real time when they are working on a BookWidgets assignment so that they can quickly guide their students in the right direction when they need help. 

The PebbleGo Create (with Buncee) platform lets students of all abilities access thousands of informational articles, ready-made activities, and literacy supports. With Buncee’s creator tool, students are empowered to choose how they would like to document and demonstrate their knowledge acquisition. Access to video, audio, graphics, text, drawing, and photos within the safe and easy-to-use platform offers students the option to create using whatever medium they’re most comfortable with.

Flat for Education is an intuitive and engaging tool for music teachers and students. Users can create scores, write, collaborate on projects, and much more. Educators can organize classes, grade assignments, and provide instant feedback. Flat helps music educators save time and focus on what matters most: teaching.

Haldor believes all students should have the same possibilities to learn–and that’s why Microsoft’s Immersive Reader is seamlessly integrated into all of Haldor’s solutions. The learning tool can be used by students in their plans, assignments, news, messages to and from the teacher, and more. It is also available for parents and caregivers to help with homework, view assignments, and learn about school news. Haldor and immersive reader enable students to read—regardless of their ability and language knowledge.

InPlace Network transforms the laborious, intensive, and time-consuming manual processes of managing student placement into a streamlined workflow. The InPlace solutions offer extensive student-friendly features including placement applications, roster maintenance, communication with supervisors and placement coordinators, timesheets, surveys, payments, and much more. InPlace Network ensures that students feel extremely supported throughout their placement experience.

ITWorkx Education learning platform allows access to learning resources and material from different publishers and sources through one gateway and with a seamless experience. All student activities are tracked and recorded in the Learning Record Store, allowing insights and intelligence to enhance student learning experiences. Teachers and faculty can develop their skills through the platform’s deep integration with Microsoft Learn.

NEO by Cypher Learning is an intelligent learning platform (ILP) used by schools and universities worldwide. It’s known for delivering a great user experience by making learning engaging and inclusive while incorporating all the essential tools that institutions need to support efficient teaching and learning. NEO helps schools manage all classroom activities, such as building and delivering educational materials, assessing students, tracking their progress, automating learning processes, and promoting communication and collaboration between students and faculty.

Revisely aims to make qualitative education accessible to as many students as possible in the world. Teachers save time correcting and can give more insightful feedback through the tool, helping students become more efficient learners. And Revisely provides school management with clear insight into the reporting and benchmarking tools.  

Snapplify helps educators, students, and parents use technology, work smarter, and achieve educational success. Snapplify Engage is an e-learning platform that has everything in one place, providing schools with user and content management tools, digital library functionality, resource sharing, teacher empowerment tools, assessment tools, and reporting and analytics tools.At the core of Toucan’s product ecosystem is one simple idea: empathy. Toucan has more than 600,000 monthly active learners from all over the world, most of whom are students seeking to learn a new language. And because what works for one student or teacher may not work for another, Toucan focuses on building inclusive features and expanding to platforms such as Microsoft Edge. Toucan aims for as many students as possible to have access to a high-quality, easy-to-use, low-cost learning tool.

Whiteboard.chat is an online interactive digital notebook that brings together educators and learners from around the globe. Students can join Whiteboard.chat classes directly from Microsoft Teams and OneNote. Each student gets their own whiteboard notebook where teachers’ instructions and teaching materials are replicated. However, students cannot see each other’s work. And because teachers have a bird’s eye view of all students’ notebooks in real-time, students can always signal if they need help, and then receive personalized attention.

Pillar Four: Secure & Future-proof IT

Solutions that are secure, future-proof, and trustworthy are essential to unlocking digital transformation. 

classroom.cloud is a cloud-based app. It provides teaching tools, classroom management, online safety resources, and an IT management solution. The app helps schools implement blended learning with both in-school and remote students. Supporting multiple platforms (including Windows 11 and 11 SE–perfect for a Microsoft 365 cloud environment) and a full mix of devices, it helps to future-proof your school. It starts with Microsoft Student Data Sync and SSO to quickly create classes and manage student data with ease. Teachers have a clear view of all their students’ screens and can monitor, collaborate, assess, and control activity. From locking students’ screens to controlling and launching websites or apps, teachers can shepherd and nurture teaching and learning, while maximizing lesson time. 

Create more effective, engaging, and safer learning with GoGuardian Admin and GoGuardian Teacher in Windows environments. Whether students are working in a classroom or from afar, GoGuardian for Windows devices helps school leaders create educational environments where every student can thrive. GoGuardian is a Student Privacy Pledge signatory and provides schools control of their students’ data consistent with Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), and all other applicable state laws.

Find Microsoft Education Partners to help transform your classrooms. And if you’re at ISTE 2022, come see us!

The post ISTE 2022: Partners empowering our communities and educators appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

2020 has had its ups and downs for sure, but in spite of all the challenges facing educators and students, incredible things have been happening around the world. As we round the corner into 2021, we want to enter a new year with a spirit of hope and celebration by looking back over some of this year’s most exciting moments. Follow along with us as we share the Minecraft: Education Edition highlights of 2020!

The Move to Remote Learning

No review of the past year can ignore the massive impact of the global pandemic. Lockdowns and social distancing restrictions made the conventional classroom experience impossible. Educators worldwide had to find creative ways to keep learning going, even when students were staying home. In response to lockdown measures, we announced that Minecraft: Education Edition would be available through the end of the 2019–2020 school year to anyone with an Office 365 Education account.

Many educators discovered that Minecraft was an ideal tool for creating a virtual and hybrid classroom experience, giving students the chance to connect and collaborate as they learned from home. You can read stories about the innovative ideas for remote learning solutions that dedicated teachers dreamed up, including virtual re-creations of schools in New York State, architectural exploration in Wales, and citywide collaboration in Canada.

We knew that graduating students would be upset about missing the opportunity to celebrate their achievements. Many university students decided to take matters into their own hands by re-creating their campuses to host virtual ceremonies in Minecraft. Inspired by campus builds like Berkeley University’s Blockeley U, our team decided to create the Graduation World as a space for educators and students to celebrate the end of a tough school year together.

Remote and hybrid learning continue in many places, and we hope you’ll take advantage of our resources and training to help support your students in or out of the classroom.

Big Moments for Minecraft: Education Edition

2020 wasn’t all about lockdowns and remote learning. There were some massive announcements from our team as well! The biggest came in August when we revealed that Minecraft: Education Edition would be available on Chromebooks for the first time. This announcement meant that millions of students would be able to access Minecraft for learning. We’ve even made it possible for learners to use their Google for Education credentials for easier access through single-sign-on. And we couldn’t resist a bit of fun with our Back-to-School Update, so we brought bees into Minecraft: Education Edition to help teach students about pollinators!

For another first, October marked the launch of the inaugural Minecraft Education Global Build Championship. This international competition invited students to reimagine a world where humans and animals can coexist safely and happily in a school, home, workplace, or public space situated in one of five habitats. We received over 1,250 entries from students sharing their exciting ideas for an ecologically sustainable future. In the end, a team from Canada took the top prize with a truly epic turtle research habitat. You can see their entry and the rest of the winners here!

One handy update made it easier than ever for teachers to get lessons and learning content to their students. Educators now have the ability to share worlds and lessons to Microsoft Teams from within Minecraft: Education Edition!

We also wanted to ensure teachers felt supported with the right resources to keep them on the cutting edge of game-based learning and pedagogy, so we assembled two new training resources. The newly updated Teacher Academy takes educators through an 11-course learning path designed to build a foundation for using Minecraft in the classroom. The brand-new Coding Academy takes the learning a step further, outlining the ways you can use Minecraft: Education Edition to teach computer science. Our brand-new Community Hub contains mountains of helpful support materials and a place where educators can connect with colleagues to share ideas, get help from peers, or just chat about all things Minecraft.

A Whole World of New Teaching Content

2020 was one of our biggest years ever for new lessons and learning material. We tried to make sure there was something for everyone, across almost any subject you can name. Here are some of our most exciting highlights:

• Hour of Code: A Minecraft Tale of Two Villages explored empathy and inclusion through the power of code as students attempted to smooth over the grudge between Villagers and Illagers.
• The Build with Bees lessons helped students understand the secret—and fascinating—lives of these apex pollinators, from their anatomy and life cycle to how they collect nectar and produce honey.
• Conversations around race, equity, and inclusion came to the forefront in 2020, so we worked with educators and Teaching Tolerance to create Good Trouble: Lessons in Social Justice. The first lesson came out in October, and there are more on the way in 2021!
• In a year like this, student well-being is an essential focus for educators. Social-emotional learning content laid a foundation for building mindfulness, self-expression, digital citizenship, and more.
• It was a big year for computer science learning. We wanted to provide students with a path from the beginning of their coding journey to more advanced programming challenges. Our updated Computer Science Subject Kit now includes more than 150 hours of coding content arranged in a helpful progression from beginner to advanced lessons. Coding FUNdamentals progresses through three imaginative adventures as students learn to code. Artificial Intelligence lessons help learners engage with this exciting realm of computer science. Finally, two sets of Python lessons offer activities in a more advanced programming language. You’ll find all of these lessons and more in one epic resource: the Computer Science Subject Kit.
• Earth Day offered a chance to explore sustainable energy and urban design with the Lumen City and Power Challenges across two massive worlds, one set in a sprawling city and another amidst a series of power facilities.
• With Esports igniting students’ imaginations, we released a fantastical set of worlds where students could take part in competitive and collaborative build battles.
• The English Language Arts Pack included ten lessons designed to help students work on their reading and writing skills, from setting to character to narrative structure.
• If history fascinated your students, they could experience an in-depth look at the background, conditions, tactics, and technology of World War I in a new lesson pack.
• Learners had the chance to strap in and blast off to the International Space Station where they could explore space science in ten lessons, including physics, engineering, botany, psychology, and more.

There’s something for everyone in our 2020 content, and we know these lessons will continue to inspire students in the years to come!

Striking Stories from the Global Educator Community

It’s always educators who inspire us most, especially in such a challenging year. We heard from passionate leaders across the globe about the ways they use Minecraft: Education Edition to empower and delight their learners.

• In Atlanta, the Minecraft Student Ambassador Program gave students the chance to lead learning for their peers and teachers alike!
• More than 1,000 students from 31 schools participated in the first national NAIDOC Minecraft Education Challenge in Australia, blending Indigenous knowledge with modern technology to envision a different world.
• At Villanova University in Pennsylvania, a Classical Studies professor explored Roman ruins and scenes from the Iliad with Minecraft.
• The Queensland University of Technology’s Digital Media Research Centre partnered with our team to conduct research into how Minecraft supports math learning in Australian classrooms. The results were fascinating—and very encouraging!
• For Safer Internet Day, the Microsoft team in Croatia hosted a competition in a Minecraft world to teach students about online etiquette, safety, and digital citizenship.
• Girls Who Game empowered female students to pursue STEM through a country-wide build challenge in Canada.
• Wales launched a series of educator-led Minecraft Learning Centers to help teachers across the country build their game-based learning skills.
• Regional build challenges were all the rage, with national competitions in Germany, Norway, Turkey, and many more.
• When faced with the challenges of the worldwide pandemic, educators in Victoria, Australia, developed creative solutions for teaching in remote and hybrid learning environments using Minecraft.
• The Minecraft: Education Edition China Summer Camp invited students in China to take part in a summer of learning, with free lessons, online workshops, and a build challenge that produced some fantastic creations.

When you’re working with educators, you don’t have to look far to see the passion and inspiration that drives their work day-in and day-out. Nothing makes us more grateful to support their work than hearing amazing stories like these!

Now that we’re finally leaving 2020 behind, we want to thank every teacher who’s gone the extra mile for their students and innovated new ways to use Minecraft: Education Edition. We know you’ll continue to do great things in the coming months and years. Here’s to a great 2021!

If these stories have inspired you to begin your Minecraft: Education Edition journey, head to education.minecraft.net/get-started to take your first steps.

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ISTE20 Live is fully virtual this year, and we’ll be right there to help educators explore ways to use Minecraft: Education Edition to support student learning across the curriculum—whether you’re teaching online or in person. We’ll be joining the Microsoft Education team to beam onto your screen with tips, tricks, and advice for game-based learning.

All of our sessions are 15 minutes long, and they’ll be taking place in the Microsoft Content Room, so all you need to do is tune into the stream when there’s a session that interests you. You’ll find sessions on topics from remote learning and inclusive teaching to computer science and digital citizenship. We’ll have moderators from our team in each of the sessions to make sure we’re answering any questions you might have. We’re excited to connect!

To make things easy for you, here’s an at-a-glance schedule of the sessions featuring Minecraft: Education Edition.

Sunday, November 29

10:45 AM PT: Nathan Richards, Remote learning with Minecraft: Education Edition
With learning models changing in ways we’ve never seen before, teachers are adapting to how students learn, connect, and collaborate with one another. Discover ways that Minecraft: Education Edition can help students explore, build, and learn together online when they can’t share the same physical classroom.

Thursday, December 3

11:30 AM PT: Felisa Ford, Good Trouble – Teaching Social Justice in Minecraft: Education Edition
Take a trip through time and across the globe with civil rights activist and Congressman John Lewis to learn about people who changed the world by leading social justice movements. Students embark on a journey that includes Black Lives Matter, the US Civil Rights movement, Gandhi’s struggle for Indian independence, and more. This session unpacks the ways that the Good Trouble lesson can help students understand the impact of these movements and their leaders, and explores how learners can contribute to building a better world.

11:45 AM PT: Becky Keene, Experiencing History and Deep-thinking Skills with Minecraft: Education Edition
See how students engage in learning about history, coding, engineering, and more through the immersive experience of the World War I Toybox in Minecraft: Education Edition.

12:00 PM PT: Suzannah Calvery, Mindful Mining – Infusing Social-emotional Learning with Minecraft
We all need to build our social-emotional intelligence, and the tools available through Minecraft: Education Edition provide opportunities to build mindfulness, communication, and collaboration skills. See how the Mindful Knight lesson teaches mindfulness, empathy, self-regulation, and resilience, then discover more lessons that foster creativity and collaboration.

12:15 PM PT: Bob Irving, Promoting Digital Citizenship – Immersive Roleplay in Minecraft: Education Edition
Learn about how Minecraft: Education Edition’s new Digital Citizenship world provides an immersive tool for teaching students about digital theft, media literacy, sharing, and harassment, preparing them to collaborate successfully with peers online.

12:30 PM PT: Sarah Red-Laird, Build with Bees! STEM Lessons in Minecraft: Education Edition
Turn students’ fear of bees into feelings of fascination and fun with the founder and director of the Bee Girl nonprofit. Explore 11 NGSS-aligned STEM lessons designed to help students understand the importance of bees in our ecosystem, their biology, and how we can contribute to bee health!

1:30 PM PT: Felisa Ford, Good Trouble – Teaching Social Justice in Minecraft: Education Edition
Take a trip through time and across the globe with civil rights activist and Congressman John Lewis to learn about people who changed the world by leading social justice movements. Students embark on a journey that includes Black Lives Matter, the US Civil Rights movement, Gandhi’s struggle for Indian independence, and more. This session unpacks the ways that the Good Trouble lesson can help students understand the impact of these movements and their leaders, and explores how learners can contribute to building a better world.

2:15 PM PT: James Protheroe, Minecraft Hour of Code for Elementary Students: Block-based Coding
The world of computer science can be an intimidating place for those of us who come from non-STEM backgrounds, but bringing code and computational thinking into your classroom doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Join this session to learn more about fostering your own understanding while also introducing computer science principles at a beginner level through this year’s Minecraft Hour of Code block-based coding tutorial.

2:30 PM PT: Andrew Balzer, Minecraft Hour of Code for Intermediate Coders: Text-based Python Coding
The world of computer science can be an intimidating place for those of us who come from non-STEM backgrounds, but bringing code and computational thinking into your classroom doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Join this session to learn more about fostering your own understanding while also introducing computer science principles at an intermediate level through this year’s Minecraft Hour of Code Python activities.

2:45 PM PT: Peter Doherty, Coding in Minecraft: Fun Computer Science for Middle School
Coding in Minecraft is a remote-ready computer science credential and CSTA-aligned curriculum program delivered through Minecraft: Education Edition. This curriculum immerses students in a Minecraft world to develop and demonstrate their coding skills using MakeCode and JavaScript or Python. In this session, you’ll hear from educators who are seeing success with this content.

Friday, December 4

12:15 PM PT: Steve Isaacs, Learning Through Creative Competition with eSports in Minecraft: Education Edition
With the number of eSports spectators now eclipsing that of the NFL in the US, how can educators harness students’ passion for competitive gaming to drive learning outcomes in classrooms and after-school clubs? In this session, learn about ways that Minecraft: Education Edition is entering this exciting new arena.

Saturday, December 5

10:45 AM PT: Nathan Richards, Remote Learning with Minecraft: Education Edition
With learning models changing in ways we’ve never seen before, teachers are adapting to how students learn, connect, and collaborate with one another. Discover ways that Minecraft: Education Edition can help students explore, build, and learn together online when they can’t share the same physical classroom.

You can find all of these sessions and more in the Microsoft ISTE20 Live schedule. Come connect with us, bring your questions, and enjoy the virtual conference experience with our team! If you’re curious about Minecraft: Education Edition and want to come to the table with a few questions, explore this powerful tool for game-based learning at education.minecraft.net.

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When faced with the challenges of the worldwide pandemic, educators everywhere have been forced to develop creative solutions for teaching in remote and hybrid learning environments. For teachers in Victoria, Australia, Minecraft: Education Edition represented a powerful vehicle for collaboration and community in the midst of a global health crisis. Read this guest post by education specialist Dr. Bron Stuckey and Lauren Arkley of Victoria’s Department of Education and Training to hear their story.

This is the story of the 2020 Minecraft Innovation Project developed by the Department of Education and Training in Victoria, Australia, in partnership with Microsoft. The heroes of this story are the classroom teachers who took on the challenge of innovating amidst the constraints of prolonged lockdown and isolation in the COVID-19 pandemic through remote and hybrid learning with Minecraft: Education Edition. The extended version of this story—with detailed information and teaching examples—can be found in the Department of Education Sway created to celebrate teacher excellence.

The background of the project

The goals for this project were to create a community of practice that built teacher capacity in using Minecraft: Education Edition by supplying an online collaboration space in Microsoft Teams, a space where teachers would share ideas, lesson plans and resources, and seed increased Minecraft usage across the state. Schools were invited to join the project, to nominate at least two teachers to engage in the work of the community, and to create lesson plan exemplars as part of project deliverables. The project kicked off with a full-day face-to-face gathering in which we acquainted ourselves with each other, Minecraft: Education Edition, and the clusters we chose to gather around.

Moving to remote and hybrid learning

In April, shortly after the Minecraft Innovation Clusters were established, Victorian schools moved to a state of remote and flexible learning in response to the COVID-19 world pandemic. As the state moved into lockdown, teachers began to envision what this new “school” day might look like. They quickly realized that rigidly mapping the in-school day onto remote learning was problematic. For many educators in Victoria, the newness that came with teaching online seemed overwhelming. For teachers in the community, the place Minecraft held in their teaching was under review. This is a community of people eager to innovate and improve teaching and learning, but they soon discovered that while their original curriculum goals for Minecraft might be tempered during remote learning, there was a valuable place for new social experiences and ways of engaging. The community focus became about supporting, sharing, and celebrating rich and diverse social and pedagogical practices.

What follows are some snapshots of teacher and student creativity, problem-solving, and quality learning that took place over remote and hybrid learning.

A student-created roller-coaster tour of the Botanic Gardens in Melbourne

Supporting Sociability

Teachers were encouraged to tinker with providing new social experiences for their students through Minecraft. This community is comprised primarily of K–6 teachers across 25 geographically dispersed schools. Making up for lost social activity and contact became important for student wellbeing and student-teacher relationships.

Providing sociability creates room for students to surprise you

Creating sociability is about more than leaving your learners in a world to hang out together. It’s being there to learn with and from them. Julie Powell at Rupanyup Primary School created regular multiplayer sessions where her year 3/4 students could vent their imagination. She gave them an outline of a task and let them “have a crack.” It was vital that she was there with them to see what they could design, execute, and articulate about their building. Julie is also taking the opportunity to hone her own technical skills in these relaxed and informal events.

Create new friendships and collaborations

In Alicia Crang’s multiplayer sessions for students at Cranbourne Carlisle Primary School, she quickly realized that some of her year 6 students were not as experienced as others. Alicia spent dedicated time with those who needed more confidence and experience. Now new collaborations are evident as students are choosing to work with different peers each week.

As you can see by this picture, the joint-world build challenges were also a way for children to express their feelings and come to terms with issues happening in their physical world.

Digital citizenship as a lived curriculum

Darren Giuliano and Tim Murtagh from Newbury Primary School took the whole year 4 class into a multiplayer world and set projects to see who could build their best house. Very quickly, they had a village, and everyone had lots of fun checking in each day to see what was new. It was an excellent opportunity to manage, demonstrate and support expectations, and realize digital citizenship as a lived curriculum. When introducing Minecraft: Education Edition, Danielle Canavan and Chloe Bourke of South Syndal Primary School took the opportunity to develop and establish Minecraft class protocols in conversation with their students.

Sociability comes in many forms

Ivanhoe Primary School’s Lenny Boyd discovered this through his literacy skills lessons with character role-playing in the Storytime Settings lesson. Year 2 Students gathered online as Lenny screen-shared a playthrough of three well-known fairy tales. The students took on the roles of various characters by reading their text bubbles with expression and drama! While students could have played through these stories independently, the live sessions demonstrated that it’s not just in multiplayer worlds where you create connections and relationships for your students.

Ardan Johnston at Aspendale Primary School created connections with his year 4 students through his pop-culture-style videos showcasing student solutions to weekly Minecraft challenges. He shares back pictures or videos of individual student work in a fun and quirky acknowledgement of their efforts. Ardan now reports that some of the most active students in these challenges have been the most disengaged in the past. Having created the model, he is about to pass the baton for hosting the program on to the students.

Watch an example of Arden’s fun video creations

Pedagogical practices

Project-based and challenge-based learning activities came to the fore with Minecraft in remote and hybrid learning. Teachers began to incorporate the game as a choice for projects and creative designs and solutions. Minecraft was included in live class sessions in various ways, from a teacher screen-share for whole-class play in a Minecraft world to a student sharing a walkthrough of their design solution. Some teachers were confident enough to take a deep dive into full curriculum integration, and others needed to ease into Minecraft implementation. These teacher stories demonstrate that Minecraft is an environment that fosters both student and teacher creativity.

Group work and differentiation

Kirsty Bridge from Wallan Primary School has supported year 6 students in the Hour of Code world for Minecraft: Education Edition in preparation for a major coding focus in term 4. She has been working in real-time with differentiated groups to step through the challenges, advancing individual basic coding skills and discussing the logic of coding. Students are working to hone their skills while in remote learning in readiness for a large joint project when back in face-to-face classrooms.

A world for students to use as a template for exploring cartesian planes.

Bring contexts to life

Anastasia Moukas and Joel Parsons at Ashburton Primary School hosted Minecraft Mondays for their year 4 students. After some preliminary build activities, they introduced the topic of Australian history, allowing students time and choice to utilize Minecraft as a form of creative response. Students were asked to read about the lives of different people in one of the World Wars and develop responses about the challenges that faced them. One student, who built a scale version of the cliffs above the beach at Gallipoli in World War 1, commented that she now understood the enormity of the task ahead of the soldiers when her avatar stood below those cliffs.

Nathan Gourzelas and David Tyndal of Eltham East Primary School studied urban redevelopment using the realistically scaled version of the Melbourne Central Business District in Mini Melbourne. Lockdown did not prevent these students in year 5 from touring their capital city. Indeed, Minecraft gave them an advantage as they used their tour on the ground and from the air to find areas they felt needed improvement. As part of their curriculum work, students submitted proposals justifying demolishing and redevelopment on their chosen sites. Student creations included creating a zoo in the Botanic Gardens with a railway tour and entertainment platforms floating in the Yarra River.

Transformation of perennial topics

Adrian Quirk and Marlee Hillier from Morwell Park Primary School were looking to transform the curriculum unit on bridge-building they teach year 5. Adrian created a Minecraft world featuring instructions and challenges. Students were set contexts and scenarios requiring the construction of bridges with increasing complexity. This activity coincided with science and physics sessions on bridge design and purpose, as well as the study of some famous bridge designs around the globe. This was truly a showcase of teacher and student creativity!

Challenge completed: Build a bridge to your friend’s house

Aspendale Primary School’s Matthew Bird had been working with his year 3 students on a literacy unit based around myths and legends, in particular, Theseus and the Minotaur. Students wrote procedural texts about escaping the mythical labyrinth and used mathematical skills to design mazes. Minecraft was offered as a creative option to build a maze, along with Lego, cardboard, or other construction tools. As a culmination, Matthew was motivated to build his own maze, a shared world where he programmed non-player characters (NPCs) to help students to conquer the labyrinth, just as they did in the myth.

Blue sky thinking

Julie Snowdon at Lyndale Secondary College was keen to use Minecraft to light a spark for disengaged students. While onsite, she has started year 7 and 8 Minecraft clubs, and the girls’ club started working on some build challenges together, including Build a Better Bedroom, Build a Campsite, and Build Rollercoasters. The girls have now taken a giant step, partnering with students from Newland’s Intermediate School in Wellington, New Zealand, to design an international Minecraft esports league specifically designed by girls, for girls. They are using Flipgrid to communicate and share ideas between schools. They have worked in Minecraft to design league trophies and brainstorm league frameworks and challenge ideas. It is early days, but they hope to hold their first competitions by the end of 2020.

Next steps

Despite some initial remote learning challenges, teachers in the Minecraft Innovation Clusters have excelled in using the game remotely with their students. They are leading the way for the broader community by demonstrating best practices to teachers across the state. The community hosted a webinar at the close of term 3 in September 2020, where three community members shared their individual journeys with Minecraft: Education Edition in their various learning contexts. Tayla Mason from Whittlesea Primary School, Shaun McEachern at Lyndhurst Primary School, and Sandringham Primary School’s David Jones are three stellar educators who have embraced Minecraft with both heart and intelligence. Feedback on the session praised these teachers for making innovation seem within the grasp of all educators. You can hear about their journeys in this webinar recording.

This success has encouraged us to expand the community, inviting new schools to express their interest in joining and offering our more experienced teachers leadership roles. While the numbers inside the group may appear small, the impact their work is having on the broader education community is immense. We are certain that the lessons learned in this remote and hybrid learning period will serve to strengthen the quality of offerings for Victorian students in all contexts, making 2021 look very rosy for all concerned!

Our teacher community: Bigger in the inside

Curious to hear more of this story? Get the full picture in the Department of Education Sway about the project. Find more stories about the power of Minecraft: Education Edition for teaching at education.minecraft.net/impact.

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Today we want to show you how to create learning experiences that inspire creativity, deepen student engagement and develop high-level cognitive skills. And we’ll tell you about free resources you can use to ensure your students are developing the future-ready skills they need to be prepared for success in college and careers.

In this episode we’ll show you how: 

• You can help teachers adopt new technology with free teacher training online in the improved Microsoft Educator Center and from Microsoft Stores
• You can access STEM Lessons from Discovery Education directly from within Teams using the new Discovery Education app for Teams
• You can inspire creativity and professional skills for the Windows Video Editor
• Coming soon: You can teach students how to code using Python with Minecraft: Education Edition and Microsoft MakeCode
• You can use Minecraft to develop social-emotional skills like digital citizenship and mindfulness

Microsoft Educator Center

We’re introducing an updated and improved MEC. The Microsoft Educator Center is a platform designed to address the needs of educators. It’s a digital hub where you can find free content, training and support to help you use technology effectively and drive improved student outcomes.

The MEC is home to innovative courses and resources built by teachers for teachers. You can earn badges, go deep on topics through learning paths, build your transcript and grow your expertise. It’s a resource to help you gain new skills related to bringing technology into the classroom, fostering student-center learning, developing future ready skills, creating inclusive and accessible environments and more. Check out the new MEC experience here.

STEM and CS

We’re excited to announce that Discovery Education– the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms– is releasing a new app for Microsoft Teams, the digital hub for bringing classroom content, conversations, assignments and apps together. If you’re using Discovery Education’s high-quality, digital resources for instruction, we know you’ll be thrilled to see those materials available within Microsoft Teams. This integration will save you time, help keep your classes organized, and provide greater opportunities to collaborate with your students and colleagues.

You’ll be able to access Discovery Education’s rich, standards-aligned STEM, Science, Math, Social Studies content and more from within Teams from your device and, connect to the largest educator community of its kind, the Discovery Educator Network (DEN), and very soon, share content with students as an assignment within Teams. We’ll have more to come on that, so keep an eye on our Microsoft Educator Center for training opportunities. And check out the steps below for how to get started.

MakeCode News 

We’re excited to announce the release of Microsoft MakeCode Arcade for general availability. Microsoft MakeCode Arcade is a new online game development environment for simple, visually appealing 2D sprite-based games. Students use drag-and-drop blocks or JavaScript to design and build games and collaborate with friends. Microsoft MakeCode is an open source, free platform for creating inclusive computer science learning experiences that support a progression from blocks to real-world text-based programming. Educators around the world have been using MakeCode for the micro:bit or MakeCode with Minecraft to introduce computing concepts into their classrooms.

We are thrilled to have this new member of the Microsoft MakeCode family in MakeCode Arcade. It’s a great next step up from MakeCode for micro:bit, a development environment that’s popular with educators and students just starting off with coding. The early feedback from MakeCode Arcade Beta users has been positive. Educators say they’re finding MakeCode Arcade to be a draw for diverse learners, and that students love designing their own characters and bringing special effects and music into their games. For those ready to give MakeCode Arcade a try, you can find the latest updates on free curriculum resources here. And you and your students can get started now with this free tutorial here. No login needed!

And in another exciting MakeCode development, we are thrilled to announce that MakeCode will support the Python programming language alongside support for JavaScript and Blocks. Python is a widely used programming language in education and data science, and we heard from many computer science teachers around the world, that they would like to see MakeCode support for Python.

Minecraft: Education Edition 

Computational thinking is a vital skill to develop in students as we prepare them for the workplace, especially since the vast majority of future jobs will require digital skills. Teachers can introduce computer science to students of all ages with Minecraft: Education Edition, which also now supports the Python programming language for MakeCode alongside JavaScript and block-based coding.

From easy Hour of Code tutorials to Computer Science curriculum based on CSTA standards, Minecraft offers all you need to teach coding across the STEM curriculum. Download a free coding demo lesson here for all Windows, Mac, and iPad users—no login required.

In addition to developing STEM skills, students are building social-emotional competencies with Minecraft: Education Edition. A new set of SEL lessons for Minecraft: Education Edition offers special lessons and immersive Minecraft worlds to help educators teach these skills and create inclusive classrooms. Discover the Mindful Knight—an interactive world that introduces mindfulness and self-regulation—and lessons on digital citizenship and empathy.

Curious what else Minecraft offers? Now you can access more than 200 lessons and 50 build challenges with the new and improved in-game Library. Whether you teach history, math, language arts, technology, or biology, Minecraft is an effective tool for engaging students in immersive project-based learning across the curriculum. Check out this story from educators in Ireland and learn how to get started with Minecraft: Education Edition in your school here.

STEM Lesson Plans

Microsoft Hacking STEM is a collection of free, standards-aligned lesson plans that bring project-based learning to the classroom using inexpensive, everyday materials.

In November 2019, the world celebrated the 20-year anniversary of humans living aboard the International Space Station. To inspire and engage students, Microsoft Education and NASA have partnered and developed eight new lesson plans focused around the complex issues to think about when living in space. The collection of middle and high school materials connects core academic concepts with hands-on experiences. Students are challenged to design in 3D, analyze data, build sensors, and use virtual reality and work with machine learning and AI while engaging in discussions about living in space.

We are also excited to share that Carolina Biological Supply Company is launching three new classroom kits to support projects from the NASA collection. These projects include:

• Designing Astro Socks to protect astronauts’ feet in microgravity: This project has students investigating solutions to reduce the impact of working in microgravity on the astronauts’ feet.
• What is the electromagnetic spectrum: This asks students to measure radiation in our environment and examine the light waves and frequencies within the electromagnetic spectrum. Students use sensors to capture live data and relate their observations about life in space to their own on Earth.
• Using materials science engineering to determine heat resistance: This asks students to explore the properties of different heat shield construction materials to protect crew and cargo returning from the International Space Station from the heat generated during the capsule’s descent.

These kits will be available on the Carolina website soon. We hope you leverage these resources to inspire, educate and engage your students.

Data Streamer

The Excel Data Streamer provides students with a simple way to bring data from the physical world in and out of Excel’s powerful digital canvas. With a sensor connected to a microcontroller that is attached to Excel, you can introduce students to the emerging worlds of data science and the internet of things.

We are continuing to add key STEM Partners that support streaming of real time data in Excel using the Data Streamer Add-in. At Bett, Vernier, Pasco and Sphero are showcasing new applications integrated with Excel. This will enable educators to use their existing professional sensors and probes with Excel and modernize their classrooms with live data to transform how students model modern scientific and engineering practices.

An innovation story 

We love hearing stories about educators who use new tech tools in innovative ways to inform instruction and improve teaching and learning. One such story is that of Assistant Principal Lauren Taylor of Manitou Park Elementary School in Tacoma, Washington. She used Microsoft PowerApps, which allows you to build your own mobile apps using templates, to create an app for her school that helps teachers input and evaluate student reading assessment data. Read more about Lauren’s inspiring story here.

New and immersive tools 

HoloLens 2 is now available and bringing immersive mixed-reality experiences to colleges, universities, and K-12 classrooms. Educators are turning to this new tool to enhance key experiences in areas such as life sciences and career and technical education. Some of the upgrades to the new HoloLens include an increased field of view and an enhanced ability to see intricate details on 3D images.

Some examples of HoloLens in use in educational settings include Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio, where students use it in anatomy classes. You can learn more about that here. And we’ve seen exciting examples of the HoloLens bringing lessons to life with younger students as well. Ewout Warringa recently offered insights into how he uses it to teach construction and technology coursework to 13- to 17-year-old students in the Netherlands in this inspiring blog post.

And if you want to read up on various ways to bring immersive experiences to education and the potential benefits, please check out this white paper we previously released on the subject.

New 3D Models in Windows and Office 

We are excited to announce we now have more than 600 new 3D education models available in Office 365 Education and Paint3D, a built-in creative app that comes with Windows 10. You read that right—more than 600!

To learn more about how you can insert 3D models directly into Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook on Windows and macOS, please check out this post. It’s relatively easy. You insert 3D models much like you insert other images.

3D models can enhance lessons in biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, the humanities and more. Research has shown that providing 3D visualization for students can lead to greater understanding around shapes and spatial relationships.

Inspiring Creativity and offering new ways for students to share what they know 

Video Editor 

We have updates to Video Editor that we know you and your students will enjoy. Video Editor for Windows 10 is our full-featured set of video creation and editing tools for digital storytelling, and it’s free with every Windows 10 device. Students love to use it to create films with background music, text effects, 3D models and special effects. Now with Video Editor you can:

• Split video clips into two or more segments for easier editing
• Back up projects to share with peers and teachers, create templates, and import projects in progress to create a more efficient workflow
• Add content to your video project directly from Bing image search with Creative Commons licenses as captions
• Speed up and slow down video clips to create slow motion or time lapse content
• Rotate photos and videos between landscape and portrait for easier use in your projects
• Have card thumbnails for a video project that reflect edits a user has done to that specific card

If you haven’t tried Video Editor yet, look for it in your Start Menu or search for “Video.” And check out this guide for more details on how to get started using this creative tool.

Up Next…

Thanks for checking out our latest episode of What’s New in EDU, live from Bett. We hope you got some useful information about teacher training, bringing STEM resources into your classroom and ideas for boosting future-ready skills in your students. Please join us tomorrow live from Bett when we’ll look closely at specific ways to foster inclusion and accessibility in the classroom with the help of new ed tech resources. As always, share your feedback with us on Twitter by tagging @MicrosoftEDU! And be sure to sign up for the Microsoft Educator Newsletter here.

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