Introduce Python Variables to Minecraft Education Notebook Users

One of the most important early concepts for students to understand is the purpose and use of variables in coding. Students already understand Minecraft. They understand that there are conditions in Minecraft that change, such as the weather. Making the connection to variable use is easier because students can observe for themselves what the changing value of the variable “means” in the game.

This is written for the new Notebook interface, and world.weather is the location which stores the current weather in their Minecraft Education game. In the coding window, the current state of the weather can be accessed as well as changed. Try this out as an exciting introduction to dealing with variables in Minecraft Python coding in Notebook.

To extend this activity, search out other values to use besides thunder. How can students research this information and test their guesses in the game? (Hint: the terms in the chat commands are frequently similar or even identical!) I hope this was “clear” =] (coding joke!)

Other simple exercises could include creatine variables with strings, and using those strings for say commands. For example: