CTArcade : Learning Computational Thinking While Training AI Through Game Play

In this paper we describe a web application framework for developing games that teach users about computational thinking and the preliminary research that led to its creation. CTArcade was developed to be the foundation for a library of several challenging games that engage the users’ innate computational thinking (CT) skills. These skills are employed when the users are asked to teach an artificial intelligence (AI) agent the rules and strategies of the game, Tic Tac Toe. In addition to providing a training module, users can direct their AIs to play individual matches against other AIs and participate in a regular server-wide tournament. These additional activities are designed to provide the users with motivation to improve their characters , which are anticipated to drive the improvement of fundamental skills. A brief pilot test was conducted using volunteers from the University of Maryland. The participants helped to assess the usability of CTArcade’s current implementation as an educational tool.