Instructional Design of a Workshop  “How a Computer Works”  Aimed at Improving Intuitive Comprehension and Motivation

Instructional Design of a Workshop
“How a Computer Works”
Aimed at Improving Intuitive Comprehension
and Motivation
Susumu Yamazaki, Takashi Satoh (University of Kitakyushu)"
Taku Jiromaru (OME), Nobuyuki Tachi (Nagoya University)"
and Masafumi Iwano (NEOZEST)
Copyright © Susumu Yamazaki, All Rights Reserved.
1

Question?
• This Slide will be published at SlideShare
　http://www.slideshare.net/zacky1972/"
• Please contact me:"
• by e-mail: zacky@kitakyu-u.ac.jp"
• by
(Please send me a message if you want to be my friend on Facebook!) "
• My blog:
ZACKY’s Software Education Laboratory http://zacky-sel.blogspot.jp
(Sorry, written in Japanese ... )
2
zacky1972

Summary
• Our instructional design of a learning unit “How a computer works”"
• Using the Role Playing Workshop approach"
• Succeeded in"
• Facilitating intuitive comprehension and"
• Driving motivation,"
• Because"
• The students enjoyed the workshop and"
• They gained confidence,"
• According to the assessment by a survey of 60 students.
3

Outline
1. Background & Problem
2. Related Work
3. Approach: Role Playing Workshop
4. Instructional Design
5. Assessment
4

Outline
2. Related Work
5. Assessment
5

Background & Problem
Our Observation & Hypothesis (but it haven’t been proved) :
• Background: Why is “How a computer works” important?
• Because this is one of principles of software.
• Especially this is needed for students to obtain programming skills.
• Problem: Lack of Intuitive Comprehension
• Almost students that have poor programming skills seem to lack
intuitive comprehension of “How a computer works”.
• This prevent the students especially from debugging
because they can’t imagine how a computer behaves,
which is required when they trace the program.
6

Outline
2. Related Work
5. Assessment
7

Related Work
• There are four typical instructional strategies:
1. Advance Organizer approach:
Kawamura;
2. Role Playing Workshop approach:
Maeda;
3. Simulated Virtual Machine approach:
Tamagawa University, Kimuro et al., Dolittle, Li and Li;
4. Real Machine approach:
KITE, GAINER, KERNEL, Yatsushiro National College of Tech.,
Tokuyama Colledge of Technology.
See Section 5.
8

Role Playing Workshop is …
• To learn “How a computer works” by getting into a role of a computer.
Masquerade!
9
Original Copyright © J.Maeda (MIT) available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaIxBIclGUQ
Modified Susumu Yamazaki

We Adopt Role Playing Workshop Approach
• Because it facilitates intuitive comprehension of students.
• The results of the workshop will be correct if and only if the students
understand and perform each operation correctly in this approach.
• The other approaches aren’t enough:
• The Advance Organizer approach doesn’t address the details of
computer behavior;
• In Simulated Virtual Machine and Real Machine approaches,
students can perform exercises even if they didn’t understand.
"
• But, Masquerade is not essence but performance!
10

Our Role Playing Workshop Approach
• Team work according to the routine composed of the following steps:
• Read Z80 CPU machine code with assembly language;
• Interpret the code according to Z80 instruction set manual for beginner;
• Change the resister set; and
• Write the result.
"
"
• No Masquerade…!
11
A Z C B C D E H L
S P
SP PC IX IY
1000 21, 00, 20, 7E!
1004 C6, 08, 77, C9!
"
2000 10!
""
1000 LD HL, 2000! 21, 00, 20!
1003 LD A, (HL)!! 7E!
1004 ADD A, 08! ! C6, 08!
1006 LD (HL), A!! 77!
1007 RET! ! ! C9!
"
2000 10!

Outline
2. Related Work
5. Assessment
12

Instructional Design: Gagne’s Principles
13
copyright © 北大路書房
photo by © Amazon
copyright © Wadsworth Pub.
photo by © Amazon

Instructional Design:
Two Integrated Learning Objectives
• What learning objectives do students need to achieve in order to
understand how a computer works at the CPU level?
• O1: Explain basic keywords and concepts:
Students will explain the CPU, bus, memory, I/O, register, kinds of
basic instructions, execution at the assembly language level, and
related words and concepts. (verbal information)
• O2: Trace a program:
Given a pseudo-program, students will demonstrate how the CPU
exchanges information between the register, memory and I/O when the
computer executes the program. (intellectual skill, rule)
14

Instructional Design: Learning Strategies
• What learning objectives do students need to achieve in order to
understand how a computer works at the CPU level?
• O1: Explain basic keywords and concepts:
Students will explain the CPU, bus, memory, I/O, register, kinds of
basic instructions, execution at the assembly language level, and
related words and concepts. (verbal information)
→ Self-Study Materials (Reuse from our previous course)
• O2: Trace a program:
Given a pseudo-program, students will demonstrate how the CPU
exchanges information between the register, memory and I/O when the
computer executes the program. (intellectual skill, rule)
→ Role Playing Workshop
15

Instructional Design:
Instruction items for O1
Main topics are as follows (see Table 1 for details).
• Computer Architecture
• CPU abilities
• Mechanism and Principles of the CPU
• Virtual Machines
• Code Generation
• Optimization
"
✓ These are reuse from our previous course “Programming Language
Processors”.
16

Outline
2. Related Work
5. Assessment
17

Questionnaire
• Achievement of O1:
• Before this workshop, how well did you
understand the runtime environment, virtual
machine, code generation, and
optimization?
• ARCS before the workshop:
• Before this workshop, were you curious
about how a computer works?
• Before this workshop, were you familiar
with how a computer works?
• Before this workshop, were you confident
about your understanding of how a
computer works?
• ARCS after the workshop:
• Were you curious about this workshop?
• After this workshop, are you familiar with
how a computer works?
• After this workshop, are you confident in
your understanding of how a computer
works?
• Were you satisfied with this workshop?
• Enjoyment:
• Did you enjoy this workshop?
• About role playing:
• Do you think that role-playing to perform
the CPU’s actions in this workshop was
better than learning about this in a normal
lecture?
• Usefulness of O1
• Do you think that knowledge about the
runtime environment, virtual machine,
code generation and optimization was
useful for your learning in this workshop?
18

Assessment Results:
Facilitating Intuitive Comprehension
• Experience of role playing at the workshop leads to students’
confidence after the workshop.
• Because 31 of the 52 students who were positive about role playing
answered positive confidence (60%).
19

Assessment Results: Driving Motivation
• The workshop was effective in motivating the students to learn about
how a computer works.
• Fifty-four of the 58 (93%) students answered that the workshop was
enjoyable.
• Enjoyment of the workshop seemed to relate to the students’
confidence about achievement of O1 and O2.
• Improvement in student comprehension of O1 will be effective in
improving student outcomes from this workshop.
• Achieving O1 may lead to the achievement of O2 in this workshop.
• Students who does not achieve O1 may slightly achieve O2.
20

Enjoyment is Relating to Confidence
• Enjoyment of the workshop seemed to relate to the students’
confidence about achievement of O1 and O2,
• Because 32 of the 54 students who enjoyed this workshop (59%)
answered positive confidence.
21

Achieving O1 Leads to Achievement of O2
• Achieving O1 may lead to the achievement of O2 in this workshop.
• 22 of the 28 (73%) students who answered that they understood the
instruction items of O1 “very well” or “a little” on O1 before this
workshop answered that they were “very” or “a little” confident after
this workshop.
22

Who Doesn’t Achieve O1 Achieves O2 Slightly
• Students who does not achieve O1 may slightly achieve O2.
• 12 of 30 (40%) students who answered that they did not understand the
runtime environment, virtual machines, code generation, and optimization
(the instruction items of O1) before the workshop answered that they
were confident after this workshop.
23

Summary
• Our instructional design of a learning unit “How a computer works”"
• Using the Role Playing Workshop approach"
• Succeeded in"
• Facilitating intuitive comprehension and"
• Driving motivation,"
• Because"
• The students enjoyed the workshop and"
• They gained confidence,"
• According to the assessment by a survey of 60 students.
24

Question?
• This Slide will be published at SlideShare
　http://www.slideshare.net/zacky1972/"
• Please contact me:"
• by e-mail: zacky@kitakyu-u.ac.jp"
• by
(Please send me a message if you want to be my friend on Facebook!) "
• My blog:
ZACKY’s Software Education Laboratory http://zacky-sel.blogspot.jp
(Sorry, written in Japanese ... )
25
zacky1972

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