An Analysis of K-12 Programming Education Utilizing the Minecraft Metaverse Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

In March 2020, all elementary, middle, and high schools in Japan were temporarily closed for approximately one month in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. During this interval, we initiated a programming education program for students ranging from elementary to high school, utilizing the metaverse capabilities of Minecraft. The primary participants in this initiative were educators and students from two private programming institutions. Students engaged in a simulated school experience that leveraged Minecraft's command and Redstone based programming functionalities. Furthermore, the collaborative nature of the metaverse enhanced students' programming and computational thinking abilities. This poster will first delineate the distinctive features of Minecraft's programming environment in contrast to visual programming platforms such as Scratch. Subsequently, we will analyze students' experiences within the metaverse, focusing on peer interaction and the enhancement of motivation towards programming. Finally, we will conduct an evaluation and propose directions for future research.