Seeking the Treasures of Theoretical Computer Science Education: Towards Educational Virtual Reality for the Visualization of Finite State Machines

• Published in: 2018 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE) pp. 1107 - 1112
• Main Author: Dengel, Andreas
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.12.2018
• Subjects: Automata; Boats; computational thinking; Computer science; computer science unplugged; Education; finite state machine; Games; immersive learning; theoretical computer science; Virtual reality; Visualization
• ISSN: 2470-6698
• DOI: 10.1109/TALE.2018.8615288

As metaphorical representations showed beneficial effects on several parts of computer science, this paper focuses on the question: How can metaphorical representations in VR enhance the understanding of theoretical computer science concepts? A concept for an immersive educational virtual environment for learning the theoretical computer science concept of finite state machines is presented. A first draft for the virtual reality aims to immerse students in a world of islands (states) with treasure islands (final states). Each symbol from the input alphabet is illustrated through another boat on every island. Students navigate through the islands by looking at one of the boats on the current island using a head-mounted-display. They then take the shipping route of the selected boat (the state-transition function) by pressing a button on a controller. The goal of the game can either be to reach Treasure Island and open the treasure chest or to complete the map.