Despite it starting off as a game, Minecraft has over the years become a tool that educators are using to impart knowledge to students, whether it be teaching math, science, history, or coding. In fact coding seems to be a particularly important subject these days, where there are some who feel that learning to code should be mandatory.While that is up for debate, it appears that using Minecraft as a delivery tool is a good idea because it seems that Code.org and Microsoft have managed to reach as many as 85 million students and taught them the basics of coding using Minecraft. Of course exactly how many of these students will go on to become developers is unclear, but at the very least they are walking away with an idea and some basics of how coding works.
According to the post on Medium by Code.org, they cite an example of how Mike Henry, an elementary school teacher from Maine and a Code.org facilitator has used Minecraft in the classroom to teach coding. They claim that this is an effective tool due to the familiarity of Minecraft.
This allows students to engage better and helps keep their attention. “The familiarity attracts and hooks students right away, while sequences of coding interactions build upon each other to keep the entire class engaged and learning.”
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