Today, Microsoft-owned game developer Mojang AB announced the launch of Minecraft: Education Edition, a new version of Minecraft for schools that is based on the popular MinecraftEdu mod.

“Of course, every Minecraft player learns essential life-skills like tree-punching and good Creeper-defence but, when used in the right way, Minecraft can help people around the world to learn lots more,” Owen Hill, Director of Creative Communications at Mojang, wrote in a blog post.

“Over the past few years, educators around the world have been using Minecraft to explore subjects that might not spring to mind when you think of our block-based game. Since 2011, MinecraftEdu – a version of Minecraft built for the classroom – has been used in over 40 countries. Lots of people have learned loads of things since then.”

One of the biggest deployments of MinecraftEdu to date happened in Northern Ireland, which gave free copies of the game to all secondary schools in the country.

Hill said that Microsoft has acquired MinecraftEdu, and all current users of the mod will have full access to Minecraft: Education Edition for free for one year. New users will also be able to try out the game during a free trial this summer.

In conjunction with the new educational version of Minecraft, Mojang will also be launching a new web portal at education.minecraft.net. The new site will host lesson plans and discussion forums that will allow educators to work together as part of an online community to share how they use the tool in their classrooms.

“One of the reasons Minecraft fits so well in the classroom is because it’s a common, creative playground,” Vu Bui, COO of Mojang, said in a statement. “We’ve seen that Minecraft transcends the differences in teaching and learning styles and education systems around the world. It’s an open space where people can come together and build a lesson around nearly anything.”

Image courtesy of Mojang AB