Minecraft and coding?

#1

Hello all. I’m a computer science teacher at the middle school level. I just discovered Endless today, and I have to say I am so impressed by what you are trying to do to bridge the digital divide!

My area of expertise is teaching coding to middle schoolers. For those first learning text-based coding, I use an approach that I call Mython, which is a mashup of Minecraft and Python. I didn’t invent it but lean heavily on the book Adventures in Minecraft by O’Hanlon and Whale. It seems like it would be perfect in your Endless curriculum, but I can’t seem to find what version of Minecraft you have included in your distro. Is it Minetest? An early version of Java Minecraft, such as the one given to the Raspberry Pi foundation? Or something else? Matt mentioned partnering with MinecraftEdu in one video, and I’m wondering if that is the current version by Microsoft, or the earlier mod?

You can see my approach by searching me on YouTube, where I am CrouchingPython.

Keep being awesome, people!

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#2

Hey, thanks for reaching out and sharing your experience teaching middle schoolers.
I’m not very familiar with Minecraft, however our apps come from an app store called Flathub.
Minecraft on flathub appears to be Minecraft Java Edition version 1.0.1221. There is also a separate Minecraft Pi edition app.

On a related note, we’re stepping up efforts around learning through game making, and are entering collaboration with Endless Studios. They have a learning tool called Endstar available which has some similarities to Minecraft but goes beyond. Sign up here then click here if you want to try it - Windows and Mac only for now, but we’ll have it available on Endless OS sometime in the next couple of months.

#3

Thanks for the reply, and congratulations on the work you’re doing!

I’m not sure exactly how to get started on Endstar, though I did sign up for it, and I’m running Windows. I noticed that it seems to be built on Unity, yes?

However, if you have the Raspberry Pi edition of Minecraft available in your distro (or Minecraft version 1.0), I have taught Python coding of Minecraft using that for several years. In fact, I just did a presentation on this for a Raspberry Jam in the UK. I’d be glad to send you that video if you are interested.

Since that version of Minecraft is free, as is Python, you could easily run a series of lessons where students could learn to code in Python. It’s a great first text-based coding language to learn, especially when you combine it with the engagment factor of Minecraft! I don’t want to spam this forum, but I would be happy to send you a link to my intro video. I know from experience that it’s a great way for students to learn game programming.

Let me know if this is of interest to you, as I think it would fit well with your offerings.

#4

Do you mean you couldn’t find the Endstar download? I think I gave misleading instructions.

go here: https://endlessstudios.com/dashboard/
login to your account
on the right sidebar find this bit:
image

Another issue you may face is that once in the game there’s very little in terms of guidance and direction (because it’s early in development). For that you just need to bash around a bit. But hopefully you will get the gist and find the interesting aspects being built.

#5

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