Active Learning through Game Play in a Data Structures Course

Data Structures is a fundamental Computer Science discipline, challenging students' abstract thinking, problem solving and programming skills. In this paper, we present an educational game intended to explicate several features hindering students' understanding of the data structure Stack on conceptual and practical level. The game targets all three aspects of teaching data structures: conceptualization, application and implementation. These aspects are embodied as three parts of the game tied together through a meaningful storyline. The application part targets the use of stacks to solve problems, such as converting arithmetic expressions from infix to postfix notation and evaluating postfix and infix expressions. The implementation part involves solving Parson's problems and writing Java code for implementing the methods of the Stack class. The results of the conducted evaluation of the game show statistically significant learning gains for the students and a strong positive attitude towards this type of active learning.