Basic Concepts of Computer Architecture Through Games and Game Development

Abstract

The aim of this research is to study how games and game development can help students learn introductory concepts of a very abstract topic such as Computer Architecture. In a quasi-experimental scenario, quantitative and qualitative data has been collected from students before and after the intervention throughout three consecutive school years. Following the action-research methodology, year by year several changes have been implemented in the games, pursuing a better understanding of the concepts. Also during the last year a game development has been added in order to consolidate knowledge. No statistical differences were found between the knowledge acquired by students in the control and experimental groups during the first two years. Therefore, and given that motivation was higher when using games, the same game-based methodology was used in the third year in both groups. Afterwards, the students had to develop an interactive presentation in the form of an Escape Room to teach younger students the concepts they had learned. Only a few concepts gained knowledge after this intervention, but those concepts with less prior understanding did. Although advanced computer architecture concepts can be difficult to handle through games, there are basic concepts that can be worked on in this way. In addition, the excitement and motivation provided by games make a good introduction to the subject. Also the development of simple games helps to understand some of the concepts that were not well understood before.