Last year, we teamed up with Microsoft and Mojang on a Minecraft tutorial for the Hour of Code. This turned into one of our biggest and highest-rated activities ever, and has been enjoyed over 31 million times! Students all over the world have been introduced to computer science as they code their way through this Minecraft adventure.
For 2016, Code.org, Microsoft and Mojang are announcing the all-new Minecraft Hour of Code Designer, a tutorial that lets students code their own Minecraft rules. Students can use code to control how animals and other Minecraft creatures behave—they can create a totally unique Minecraft experience, and then share it with friends or play it on their phones!
The new tutorial begins in a Minecraft world where sheep don’t move, the chickens don’t cluck, and nothing attacks: it’s a blank slate without movement or defined action. Over the course of an hour, students will bring this world to life using computer science. At the final level, they get to define the rules of Minecraft however they wish. If they want, the cows can lay eggs, sheep can explode, and zombies can run away from players.
This tutorial shows students how they can build rather than just use technology—how every detail in a game like Minecraft is defined by code that they can manipulate.
We’re excited to offer the new Minecraft Hour of Code Designer to students and teachers around the world for the Hour of Code—an introduction to computer science that anybody, anywhere can do, with no experience required.
Sparking students’ interest in computer science has become critical in the 21st century; computing jobs are the #1 source of new wages in the U.S., and coding has become relevant to many jobs, even those outside of technology and engineering. We hope that the Minecraft Hour of Code designer encourages students everywhere to keep learning computer science, and to build computational thinking and problem-solving skills that will help them in any field.
Educators across the globe are teaming up again this year to do the Hour of Code during Computer Science Education Week: December 5-11, 2016. Sign up your Hour of Code event here and get ready to do the new Minecraft tutorial with your class!
