Puzzles and games: addressing different learning styles in teaching operating systems concepts

  • Authors:

  • John M. D. Hill;Clark K. Ray;Jean R. S. Blair;Curtis A. Carver, Jr.

  • Affiliations:

  • United States Military Academy, West Point, NY;United States Military Academy, West Point, NY;United States Military Academy, West Point, NY;United States Military Academy, West Point, NY

  • Venue:
  • SIGCSE '03 Proceedings of the 34th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
  • Year:
  • 2003

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Abstract

Because students have different learning styles, it's important to incorporate multiple teaching techniques into the classroom experience. One such technique is the use of puzzles and games in the classroom to reinforce the learning objectives. Many topics in Computer Science are well suited for coverage in such a game. Several in-class puzzles and games have been used in the Computer Science program at this institution in recent years. In basic and advanced courses, simple crossword puzzles reinforce terminology and Jeopardy!®-style games help students master material with short answers. In the most recent iteration of the Operating Systems course, a BattleThreads game and a Process State Transition game helped students appreciate different approaches to process and thread management. The latter two games have been assessed for their effectiveness, providing several insights into what makes a good in-class game for teaching operating systems concepts, and how the existing games can be improved.