Playing and Learning Python With Minecraft: Education Edition

Each week we will visit one of the islands in the Kingdom of the Floating Islands. Each island is made up of a collection of creative challenges that I will help guide your learner through. Python is a great programming language to learn because it is easy to use, the syntax looks like written english, and it is powerful. I recommend this class for students that have some basic knowledge of what programming is and what it is about, for example by taking one of my block-based programming classes. I also recommend sticking around and working through each of the six floating islands before taking the multi-day programming course.

We will cover:
    *Python Notebooks
    *Important commands like say(), agent.move(), agent.till(), 
    *Python syntax
    *Problem decomposition and sequencing with Python
    *Basic data structures like lists, arrays and vectors
    *Functions in python
    *Debugging, testing, designing, and developing programs

When class time arrives and your learner joins the zoom, I will introduce the theme for the day, and the Python Island. I will help walk them through each challenge in the island and provide a level of guidance that they can appreciate. I find that some learners really enjoy guidance, and some enjoy being able to attempt the problems themselves before having me get involved. I like to use encouraging and uplifting language that I hope will motivate your learner to keep trying, and not give up on problems even when they get tough.

Theme: Welcome to the Kingdom of the Floating Islands. This mystical kingdom floats high above the world below. Throughout this collection of lessons, students will learn the basics of Python through a series of themed tasks in each world. Completing these tasks will allow the kingdom to develop further technologically.

Week 1 (4/25/2022): we will learn about the Notebooks interface, how to use the say command, familiarity with variables in Python and their basic uses, sequencing, and problem decomposition.

Week 2 (4/2/2022): we will focus on decisions in code using conditionals in Python. Conditionals are statements like "if this, then do that". We'll learn about Booleans, integers, and statements. 

Week 3 (4/9/2022): we will learn how to use for loops, some differences between for loops and other kinds of iteration and how iteration is used in python to solve problems by iterating over a fixed range of numbers. We'll learn some helpful vocabulary about loops.

Week 4 (4/16/2022): While loops are a different kind of loop where iteration continues until a condition is met. This week we will become familiar with the concept of a while loop and understand the difference between when to use a while loop vs. when to use a for loop. We'll also learn what it means when a computer is stuck in a loop.

Week 5 (4/23/2022): Functions are like little machines that you can run to solve mini problems that show up repetitively in your program. We will learn what it means to "call a function", "return a value", and what it means to "pass a variable into a function". We will learn how to use language like this to describe our code, and how to use events to call functions.

Week 6 (4/30/2022): Lists, vectors and arrays are basic data structures in programming. In this week we will learn what a datatype is, what an object is, and differences between various data types. We'll become familiar with creating, reading, updating, and deleting (CRUD) lists, arrays and vectors.

*Students with Disabilities* I encourage students with disabilities to take my classes, I know what it is like to go through the educational system with a disability and how hard that can be. Please let me know ahead of time if your student has a disability and what I can do to accommodate it. If your learner has a documented disability and documentation for the need some things, I can offer are 1 on 1 classes at the same rate as the group classes, group classes tailored for students with a specific disability, extra time to complete the problems, avoiding trigger words/phrases, assistance with braille and computer code, assistance navigating the Minecraft world, and more.