Have you been looking for an engaging way to teach computer science to your students? The Minecraft: Education Edition team has created a computer science curriculum that spans primary to secondary grade bands and affords multiple entry points for teaching computer science. It has a clear, cohesive progression that develops skills across stages and ages.
The goal of Minecraft: Education Edition’s computer science curriculum is to provide learners with the necessary skills to address the complex societal issues of our time and their futures. It includes computer science units of study that:
- Promote community
- Encourage a coding mindset
- Teach computational thinking skills
The curriculum also has consistent teaching and learning experiences across grade bands that focus on the 5 Es:
- Engaging
- Explaining
- Exploring
- Evaluating
- Elaborating
The curriculum provides educators with educator guides, formative assessments, and summative assessments to use with each unit. The curriculum’s consistency extends to the teaching materials for each Minecraft: Education Edition lesson. Each lesson is structured in the same way. This consistency gives educators the confidence needed to use these materials with their learners.
The curriculum features over 200 hours of standards-aligned content. The stand-alone units are easily integrated across the curriculum and connect to other content areas. No matter what age learners are when they’re introduced to coding there’s an entry point that begins at the basics and builds from there.
You can learn more about the curriculum and the progression of lessons in the Introduce coding in Minecraft: Education Edition and the Transition to Python in Minecraft: Education Edition course. Within these courses, you will learn about
- The progression and goals of the Minecraft: Education Edition’s computer science curriculum
- Minecraft: Education Edition’s connection to Microsoft MakeCode that allows learners to use an Agent to create programs
- The value of block-based coding for younger learners and the transition to Python for older or more experienced learners.
- The variety of methods for evaluating learners’ understanding.
You will also explore a variety of lessons within the curriculum to experience the learning activities from the learner’s perspective and evaluate the learning activities to prepare for integrating them into your classroom.
As you proceed through the course, you will find the beauty of the curriculum is that any teacher, whether you are a traditional computer science teacher or teach a different content area, can incorporate computer science skills into your curriculum easily and in an engaging way. Have fun exploring!
