Coding

Minecraft, Code.org Releasing New Hour of Code Tutorial

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 10/25/18

On Nov. 1, Microsoft will be releasing its newest Minecraft Hour of Code tutorial, which, according to a recent announcement, could be "possibly the most adventurous tutorial yet." The company has teamed up with Code.org for the release of "Voyage Aquatic," in which students "explore aquatic worlds and uncover hidden treasure" by writing code to instruct agents to execute commands. The lesson specifically covers two programming concepts: loops and conditional statements.

Code.org runs the annual "Hour of Code" campaign, a global effort to help students learn how to code in an hour with free tutorials.

The Minecraft tutorials are interactive and use the same characters and concepts from the Minecraft video game, but it's not the game itself. For Hour of Code, Minecraft developers work with educators and Code.org to create a Minecraft game-inspired lesson that introduces players to basic coding concepts. (Minecraft Education Edition is a separate game that schools need to purchase to play.)

Typically, the Minecraft tutorials come with free teacher resources, such as facilitator "quick start guides" and PowerPoint presentations for use in presenting the unit to students.

The new tutorial will be available through Code.org's website starting next month.