{"id":372,"date":"2022-07-23T01:59:45","date_gmt":"2022-07-23T01:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/mlis-cgroe003-rev1\/?p=372"},"modified":"2022-07-23T01:59:46","modified_gmt":"2022-07-23T01:59:46","slug":"an-hour-of-code-minecraft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/mlis-cgroe003-rev1\/2022\/07\/23\/an-hour-of-code-minecraft\/","title":{"rendered":"An Hour of Code…Minecraft!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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\u201cYou have to play Minecraft for an hour for grad school?\u201d my son gasped as he looked over my shoulder. While it wasn\u2019t exactly like the Minecraft I have seen him play, I enjoyed spending an hour learning how to string a list of simple commands into a program and then watch Steve carry it out. I learned how to make Steve go forward, turn, cut down trees, mine, and shear sheep. Then, I used these skills to help him stay away from Creepers, build a house, and plant a garden. I just barely scratched the surface when my hour was up, and I forced myself to leave Steve with his garden half planted. It was fun, but I had promised myself. . . just an hour!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

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The “Hour of Code” sessions taught me how to take the building blocks, on the left, and put them into strings of code to tell Steve what to do, on the right.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

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Honestly, I did understand why my son would wonder what the connection was between Minecraft and Library and Information Science. Even growing up programming mice to find cheese and programming OzBots in elementary school, he still thinks of libraries in terms of books and research papers.\u00a0 However, the roles of the library and the librarians within are changing. The ALA explains, that CT, computational thinking, is a kind of literacy, and just as reading teaches text based literacies, libraries provide opportunities for kids to \u201cengage with youth of all ages to support a range of literacies from text-based literacies, to media literacy, to financial literacy, and more. In fact, library staff integrate a variety of essential literacies into the activities and resources they provide.\u201d (ALA n.d.) My playing Minecraft was , in fact, honing my computational literacy skills.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My mind immediately goes to my future library and what I will offer to my students. What will my school system expect of my library? What do I expect of myself? Gone are the days of the librarian just reading a story and checking out books. I will be responsible for providing children the opportunity to develop skills in a variety of literacies. I will have the responsibility, the challenge, and the pleasure of introducing children to coding because \u201ccomputer coding helps develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and these are at the core of our professional mission: to help people understand how to solve problems using information effectively, which are skills that support people as lifelong learners.\u201d (Moen, 2016)<\/p>\n\n\n

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No class is complete without a certificate to show an accomplishment!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

References<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American Library Association. (n.d.). How computational thinking fits within library services<\/em>. How Computational Thinking Fits Within Library Services | Libraries Ready to Code. Retrieved July 19, 2022, from https:\/\/www.ala.org\/tools\/readytocode\/how-computational-thinking-fits-within-library-services\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moen, M. (2016, September 30). Computer Coding and Literacy: Librarians Lead the Connection. <\/em>International Literacy Association. Retrieved July 22, 2022, from https:\/\/www.literacyworldwide.org\/blog\/literacy-now\/2016\/09\/30\/computer-coding-and-literacy-librarians-lead-the-connection<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou have to play Minecraft for an hour for grad school?\u201d my son gasped as he looked over my shoulder. While it wasn\u2019t exactly like the Minecraft I have seen him play, I enjoyed spending an hour learning how to string a list of simple commands into a program and then watch Steve carry it… <\/p>\n

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