Minecraft coming to hour of code to get students into computer science

Certainly one of the most popular and successful games out there for consoles, mobile devices, and PCs is Minecraft. Microsoft, Mojang AB, and Code.org have now announced that a Minecraft coding tutorial for students and educators will be created for the third annual Hour of Code campaign. The goal of the Hour of Code campaign is to introduce players to basic coding using the Minecraft environment.

The tutorial will feature Steve and Alex from Minecraft and will have challenges inspired by the game that will be familiar to players. The Minecraft tutorial will be designed for ages 6 and up and will introduce players to basic coding skills.

The coding will challenge players to navigate, mine, craft, and explore the blocky world by putting together basic blocks to complete actions and generate computer code. Players will be offered 14 challenges including free playtime to explore the coding concepts learned.

Since the Hour of Code program kicked off over 100 million students across 180 countries and 40 languages have participated. That number counts one in three students in US school s as well. The campaign this year aims to bring more girls and students of color to the program.

SOURCE: Microsoft