PROPAEDEUTICS OF PARALLEL COMPUTING IN SCHOOL INFORMATICS: THE COMPUTER GAME «FIREFIGHTING VEHICLES»

• Main Authors: Mikhail A. Plaksin, Andrey A. Shchelkunov
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: The Fund for Promotion of Internet media, IT education, human development «League Internet Media» 2018-12-01
• Series: Современные информационные технологии и IT-образование
• Subjects: Informatics; parallel programming; parallel computing; parallel algorithms; elementary school; secondary school; teaching methods; propaedeutics; TRIZformatika; TRIZformashka
• Online Access: http://sitito.cs.msu.ru/index.php/SITITO/article/view/468

The article contains the methodological materials for inclusion of the topic “Parallel Computing” in the school informatics. The computer games “Tank crew”, “Swarm of robots”, “Firefighting vehicles” are considered. The goal of the first game is to program joint actions of tank crew members. The plot of the second game is the putting on foot the space expedition. For this goal, a group of robots should load containers with fuel and food into spacecrafts. Under uniting efforts of several robots, systemic effect is emerged: their physical and intellectual abilities increase. For programming, it means change in the number of performers and their capabilities. In the third game a group of fire engines should fight fire. The game includes the systemic effect of combining the efforts of fire engines, and two new aspects: two levels of parallelism (parallel actions of vehicles and crew members of each vehicle) and dynamic changes in the environment (combustion of objects and the spread of fire depending on the direction and strength of the wind). In the 2018/19 academic year this game is used in interregional Internet contests for schoolchildren and students “Parallel programming – from the cradle (2018)!” and “TRIZformatashka-2019” (interregional competition in informatics, systems analysis and theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ)).