Teaching Boolean Logic through Game Rule Tuning

• Published in: IEEE transactions on learning technologies Vol. 3; no. 4; pp. 319 - 328
• Main Authors: Weng, Jui-Feng, Tseng, Shian-Shyong, Lee, Tsung-Ju
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 01.10.2010; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Behavioral Objectives; Boolean logic; Game rule realization; game rules tuning; game-based learning; Games; Information literacy; Learning Activities; Logic gates; Mathematics Instruction; Programming profession; Scratch; Teaching
• ISSN: 1939-1382; 2372-0050
• DOI: 10.1109/TLT.2010.33

The Boolean logic is a tool to model the algebra of truth values. It is an essential subject in Computer Programming and Digital Electronics. While teaching the Boolean logic, teacher usually gives examples to elaborate the Boolean logic formulation. However, the physical meaning of the Boolean logic is difficult for students to imagine without the realization to real-world case. The classical Pac-Man game which has clear Boolean logic game rules and simple game scenario is chosen as the teaching aid. Accordingly, two learning activities, the Boolean logic realization activity and game scenario formulation activity, are proposed. Our idea is that through game rule tuning in the learning activities, the students can comprehend how the changing of game rule (Boolean logic) affects the game scenario. To manipulate the game scenario for teaching specific learning objectives of Boolean logic, the Game Rule of the original Pac-Man game is defined and seven versions of modified game scenarios provided as illustrations are appropriately organized for students to practice one Boolean logic concept each time. The experimental results showed the proposed activity can have higher learning achievements compared to the traditional lecturing.