Teaching Coding with Minecraft!

This week we learned about the benefits of learning coding! Essentially, coding is how we communicate with computers to tell them what to do. More so, coding is something that can be seen in our everyday lives. As this article about coding points out, coding is used in everything from cellphones, to developing apps and streaming services like Netflix. Given what we know now about the prevalence of the digital world, it would make sense that we would introduce the world of coding to our students!

Learning with Minecraft

I decided to try my hand at coding using the Hour of Code website. Here, you can select various activities for different grade levels. I chose the Minecraft Hour of Code to try out. Here’s how it went:

You begin by selecting which Minecraft level you want to try, and then pick the character you want to play as. Then, you’ll be taken to the first level of the 14-level activity. In the image above, you can see that my first task was to add a second “move forward” to reach the sheep. This is done by dragging the actions from the “Blocks” column and connecting them underneath the blocks in the workspace. Next, you click on “Run” to see the character in action.

Once you finish a level, a message pops up to let you know how many lines of code you wrote (see image above). Here, you have the ability to replay the level, continue to the next level, or even display the code you just wrote (see image below). I found this feature interesting because it gives you an idea of what coding language actually looks like. Particularly, this is using Javascript coding.

As you progress through the levels, the objectives get more complex. For example, actions like turning left or right, destroying or placing blocks, and building become necessary to complete tasks. If the actions you coded do not complete the objective, you’ll have to reset and try again. I also noticed that when you finish a level, it will not only tell you how many lines of code you completed it in, but it will tell you the fewest possible blocks you could have completed it in (see image below).

My Thoughts on Coding

Overall, I think that coding is a valuable skill for students to learn. It’s another way we can adapt our knowledge to fit in the digital world. According to this article about the importance of coding, there are many benefits to introducing our students to the world of coding including:

• problem-solving skills
• creating job opportunities
• building resilience
• critical thinking skills
• computational thinking
• supports creative expression
• makes math fun

Finally, there is a need for experienced computer programmers as our digital world continues to grow. So, why not start teaching our students from a young age? I found the Hour of Coding to be really fun, and I’m looking forward to introducing these types of activities in my future classroom. How do you feel about coding? Share your thoughts and let’s chat!