A Fine Grain Microprocessor Design Education considering Situated Nature of Learning

Hiroshima City University, Hiroshima Japan, †† Keio University, Kanagawa Japan Summary This paper proposes a new training method for instructing newcomers in the field of microprocessor design. By using this method, which is an extension of the method known as legitimate peripheral participation (LPP) proposed by Lave and Wenger, the newcomers can obtain creativity beyond the teaching materials in the course. In our microprocessor design education for junior students, we had been using pipelining as the subject for the first 5 years, which resulted in a failure, since it requires a first step, which could not be appropriate for the observation of the microprocessors. After we started to use the instruction issue logic for the superscalar microprocessors as a “way-in” considering LPP, many devices have become appeared among the junior students’ designs. Instruction issue logic has worked as a very good way-in for the observation, since it is the heart of the superscalar microprocessors and designed at the last stage of the design phases. We expect that showing the central part of the product designed at the last stage will be effective for many other cases of microelectronic systems design education.