Minecraft for Remote Learning of Computational Thinking in Pandemic Times

Abstract

The chapter seeks to share the game design and development process for creating the game “The 4 Suspects,” a serious game for teaching computational thinking, using Minecraft. The intention is to provide information to serve as a starting point for teachers who want to create games for their classes but need an easy-to-use alternative to complex tools such as Unity and Unreal Engine. The game creation process consisted in a literature review about serious games, Minecraft and its educational benefits, and computational thinking. This chapter presents those concepts as well as the evaluation method used to validate the game. For nine days, teachers and researchers could play the game and evaluate it. The results were positive, and the experience could help other teachers in their game design process. That could allow a richer experience for remote learning given the benefits of use games with educational purposes.