Archgame: jogo de tabuleiro para aprendizado de conceitos da arquitetura de computadores

Abstract

Computer architecture is an important discipline as it explores the components of a computer and their interrelationships, essential, for example, for a programmer to have a good understanding of computer architecture in order to develop software suitable for a given architecture. Otherwise, the software may cause errors and crashes on the computer, resulting in harm to the user. However, computer architecture is a predominantly theoretical discipline, with few opportunities for practical application, making it complex to understand how a computer works. Due to the ludic and gamification characteristics, educational games have been shown to be efficient in the learning process, and based on this, this work developed the ArchGame, an educational game to assist in learning the main concepts of computer architecture, which is a board game where points are awarded to players as they evolve in the game. To collect data on the effectiveness of the game, it was applied to computer architecture classes and participants answered a questionnaire based on the MEEGA+ model. The results of the questionnaire were very satisfactory for the first version of the game, and users' suggestions will be considered for future developments of ArchGame.