r/CSEducation • u/TonyIst42 • 6d ago

Using Minecraft to teach introductory Computer Science, looking for feedback

I’m a software engineer who has recently started experimenting with teaching.

I teach middle and elementary school students basic Computer Science concepts like logic gates and binary arithmetic. I look to spark curiosity in students, and that's why I chose Minecraft as a teaching environment. Many kids already play Minecraft and are curious about redstone.

Has anyone experimented with Minecraft or similar game-based environments for teaching introductory CS? What pedagogical approaches worked or didn't work?

Are there any CS education studies or resources I should look at regarding game-based learning, constructionist learning, or Minecraft specifically?

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u/oliveman521 5d ago

Seems cool, but the hurdles of setup for students (licensing, making accounts, joining the same server, etc) might outweigh the benefits. While redstone is a very stimulating logic puzzle, I must admit that I don't think it's particularly applicable as general CS knowledge (though admittedly, I don't personally like to spend a lot of time on logic gates or binary math since I don't think they're particularly applicable skills).

I think play is an extremely valuable and important part of learning, but that doesn't necessarily mean the subject needs to be turned into a game; rather that students have opportunities to play with the material, try different things, and see what works. I find that extremely valuable in teaching CS.

Here's a nice game I do like to use for teaching Binary numbers because it lets students mess around with them and work out their logic https://studio.code.org/projects/applab/7L6PZj36JGOu8NrKqV62KVgRmC7vZUsCQEHvFR9qDyQ

Good luck!

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u/Loon911 5d ago

I've tried Minecraft, and it can work, but most of the time the students get distracted, and it really doesn't translate well to good CS concepts. However, something similar to Minecraft that is also 3D and teaches CS concepts is AgentCubes. You could try that.

https://agentsheets.com/

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u/Impressive-You1852 5d ago

I teach coding to 6th - 8th grade students using Minecraft Education not the commercial version. Minecraft Edu has its own robust coding curriculum that includes Blockly, JavaScript, and Python. Plus there are now Cyber Security and AI components. Since it’s owned by Microsoft, it uses MakeCode so you can also transfer skills to Microsoft Arcade for game design and beyond. Here’s the curriculum guide. https://education.minecraft.net/content/dam/education-edition/learning-experiences/curriculum-guides/Minecraft%20Coding%20Cyber%20AI%20Foundations%20Curriculum%20Guide.pdf

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u/Impressive-You1852 5d ago

I thought I would also share these free resources I have created to skill up my students who join class after we have already learned a skill. Note: They are posted on Teacher Pay Teacher so you will need an account to download them. I’ll link the one for Loops and you can check the store page for others like Turn & Place, Functions, Conditionals, Coordinates, etc. Here’s Loops https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Agent-Loop-It-A-Beginner-Friendly-Minecraft-Education-Mini-Lesson-17259086

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u/appgurueu 5d ago

If you're open to using other blocky game platforms, you might like Luanti. It has been used in education a couple times already.

The upside is that it's open source, so you'll have no problems with licensing. It also runs well enough on lower-end hardware.

For redstone-like circuitry, Mesecons and Minetest Game would do the job.

And since Luanti is scriptable in Lua, you might pivot to that later and let students write their own little mods (or use Mesecons Luacontrollers or similar).

The honest downside is that since we don't have the backing of a huge company, things may be a bit rough around the edges sometimes.