Many people know about Minecraft, but few know that it can be used to teach kids how to program. With the release of Minecraft: Education Edition, Microsoft has given educators a new tool to teach students about coding. With the addition of code blocks, students can now write small snippets of code that affect their world. This opens up possibilities for learning about topics such as physics, architecture, and history.
Minecraft teaches coding by having students create mods for the game. Mods allow players to add new content to Minecraft such as items, blocks, and creatures. By creating mods, students learn about the basics of modding and how to use the Java programming language.
Minecraft can also be used to teach history. For example, a teacher could have students create a replica of ancient Rome in Minecraft. Students could then write code that causes the buildings in their world to decay over time, just like they would in real life. This would help students learn about the principles of architecture and history.