First Lesson to Introduce Python Coding in the Notebook Editor in Minecraft:Education Edition

Yes, you CAN! code in Python, and yes, your students will love to code in Minecraft:Education edition! Here is a first step into actual Python code your students can write, execute and watch happen in their own Minecraft world.

I have looked around at the tutorials and the commands, and this is the easiest beginning. You do not have to do all of these commands, or you can start with these and do more. Be flexible! Be brave! Get started and get coding!

If you are brand new to coding, remember these very important points:

1. The best way to code is from success to success. Start with a line of code you know works. Run it. Be successful. Then edit it and make changes and see if you can make an edited line of code that works. Before you add a second line of code, make sure that first line of code is working. In other words, build on success. Fixing errors is part of coding. Fixing errors over three lines of code is ten times harder than fixing one change in one line of code. So keep it small and you can get things fixed pretty quickly.
2. Computers care about things you don’t care about. For example, if you have one little space at the beginning of a line, or you use a “special” character, computers can get upset. They need all the details to be exact. Try not to panic at errors. Roll with the punches. Computing is learning. It just takes time to get over the bumps.
3. Computers are picky, picky picky. You cannot ignore something they expect, like a comma, period or lower case letter. So look at every single thing you typed if you find you made an error. Don’t worry; every coder makes mistakes and learns from them!
4. Have fun! You are in the driver’s seat of an amazing adventure. You are creating things where are usually you are just going along for the ride. Instead of looking at other people’s art, you are the artist. Enjoy the process. Realize that you learn as much from the mistakes as you do from the successes. Coding is the best.