Microsoft Is Very Determined That Kids Will Learn To Code Using Minecraft

theodp writes: On Tuesday, Code.org announced that the new activities for kids in this year’s Hour Of Code will include yet another Minecraft-themed tutorial from Code.org Diamond Supporter Microsoft, making it seven years in a row that the best-selling videogame of all time has ‘headlined’ the Hour of Code during the holiday buying season. Going into the Hour of Code in 2018, Microsoft boasted that 100+ million Minecraft Hour of Code tutorials had already been logged by students.

In this year’s Hour of Code: TimeCraft tutorial, kids will “learn basic coding concepts to correct mysterious mishaps throughout history!” An accompanying one-size-fits-all lesson plan for ages 6-18 instructs students to: “Experience a choose-your-own-adventure game, exploring key moments in human achievement. Using your coding superpowers, save the future by solving mysterious mishaps in time.” Among other things, the coding challenges have K-12 students travel back in time to save Jazz from a kazoo future, prevent the Great Pyramids from being built as cubes, save the Great Wall of China from destruction by pandas, and wipe the frown off of the Mona Lisa. New this year, Microsoft notes, is that educators can sign up to have a Microsoft Education Expert lead their classroom through an Hour of Code lesson with Minecraft, thanks to the magic of Microsoft Teams Live Events.