Exploring Minecraft as a conduit for increasing interest in programming

We present an investigation of how Minecraft can be used to promote interest in computer programming. To facilitate this exploration, we developed CodeBlocks, a block-based programming language used to control a virtual robot that navigates, senses, and interacts within the game. We modeled it after several successful graphical languages for programming education and performed a study with non-programmers to evaluate its ability to improve perceptions of programming and teach non-programmers to program. A survey of current Minecraft players was conducted to identify interest in the plugin. We found support for our main hypothesis that the programming interest of non-programmers improved as a result of using CodeBlocks. The plugin has been publicly released to the Minecraft modding community and is available to play on our public server.

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