MIND TECH: AN ANDROID-BASED GAME FOR COMPUTER FUNDAMENTALS

Kyn Jorjie Alfajora

Reynaldo Bichayda Jr.
Kaisen Joy Cupon
Aljem Mutia
Karl Angelo Oriel
Aljay Sarmiento

An undergraduate thesis proposal submitted to the faculty of the Department of Languages and
Humanities, College of Arts and Sciences, Cavite State University, Indang Cavite in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Information Technology.
Prepared under the supervision of Ms. Erica B. Hernandez and Mr. Renz Kevin Alcazar.

INTRODUCTION

Computer Fundamental is a course subject that explains about operating system, computer

generation and computer viruses. The College of Engineering and Information Technology (CEIT)

in Cavite State University (CvSU) – Indang, Cavite offers this subject as one of the courses in the

curriculum of some of the undergraduate programs in the University.

In the study, Mind Tech is an android based game for Computer Fundamentals, a game for

smartphone devices with android as the operating system. It is a game that requires a lot of thinking

about a certain topic in Computer Fundamentals. It is an android based game with concept like

Merriam-Webster Dictionary Mini-Games which is known for its different categories and levels

that cause user to think hard.

 The study generally aims to design and invent an educational mobile game on computer

fundamentals.

Statement of the Problem

Nowadays, most of the smartphone users prefer Android-supported Devices. According to

“Apple Vs Android – A comparative study 2017” by Jayanti Katariya, Android platform is winning

the tug of war game between IOS in terms of users. Android dominates the market with a whopping

87%, while iOS comes at a distant second at 12%.

In studying Computer Fundamentals, the lecture is not much enjoyable or entertaining, a

reason why a lot of students lost their interest in listening in the discussion of their teachers, much

more when the volume of the student is far bigger than the usual maximum numbers of students

in a class.

Objectives of the Study

The general objective of the study is to design and invent an educational mobile game for

computer fundamentals.

It specifically aimed to:

1. Identify the problems occurred on the learning in computer fundamentals.

2. Analyze the information gathered and plan a solution to the problem.

3. Design and develop an application that gives knowledge about computer fundamentals.

4. Design and develop an application about computer fundamentals that is enjoyable.

 5. Design and develop an application about computer fundamentals using android studio for

the game.

6. Test and evaluate the game using unit and investigation testing.

Significance of the Study

The result of the study will be a great benefit to the following:

Students. The result of this application will provide them knowledge on computer fundamentals

and its use in a manner that is entertaining and undeniably useful on the subject.

Faculty. They will benefit in such a way that the application can be an instructional material. Thus,

students can actively participate more in the discussion about computer fundamentals.

Future Researchers. This study can benefit the future researchers because they can use it as a

reference for their future study.

Definition of Terms

Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google, based on a modified version of

the Linux kernel and other open source software and designed primarily for touchscreen mobile

devices such as smartphones and tablets. In addition, Google has further developed Android

TV for televisions, Android Auto for cars, and Wear OS for wrist watches, each with a specialized

user interface. Variants of Android are also used on game consoles, digital cameras, PCs and other

electronics.
Mobile Devices is a handheld tablet or other device that is made for portability, and is therefore

both compact and lightweight. New data storage, processing and display technologies have

allowed these small devices to do nearly anything that had previously been traditionally done with

larger personal computers.

Mobile Application most commonly referred to as an app, is a type of application software

designed to run on a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet computer.

Mind Tech it’s all about “Mind game for Technology”, Mind Tech is the name of the app that

designed and develop by the researchers.

Application is a computer software package that performs a specific function directly for an end

user or, in some cases, for another application. An application can be self-contained or a group of

programs. The program is a set of operations that runs the application for the user.

Scope and Limitation

The focus of the study is to design and develop an android based quiz game focusing on

the computer fundamentals.

The application is designed to help students specially those who need to study computer

fundamentals as requirement in their respective course and to those who wants to gain knowledge

about the basic computer fundamentals.

The user start the application the user will wait for the command such as start game, start

lecture and access setting sub module. Then the user will select if game mode or lecture, after the

user done in selecting the module, the application wait for selected mode. User will select type of
game in game mode and select chapter for lecture mode. The application will wait for the selected

game or chapter. User will play game with the selected game or view the selected chapter/topic,

the application will wait for the command such as TRUE or FALSE, Multiple (A, B, C) and etc.

Menu Selection Module. In this module the user will choose from the main module "Game

Selection Module", "Lecture Module", or the sub module "Setting Module". In this module only

the main User Interface (UI) will be seen in the screen which includes the modules Game Selection,

Lecture and sub module setting.

Game Selection Module. If the user entered the game selection module, it will show the different

mini games that only covers the topics in "Computer Fundamentals". Mini games include true or

False, Quiz Game, Name that thing and etc. (Since the Application is under development, further

games will be added).

Chapter Selection module. If the user entered the Chapter Selection Module the user will see the

syllabus that the researchers prepared for the topic "Computer Fundamentals", the chapter

selection module will also serve as a reviewer depending on the information and the syllabus

similarities. A condition will be set that if and only if the user exit the game by the reason of

gathering information for an answer to a specific question on a specific game, the game progress

will be reset by a random question. This is to prevent cheating in the game.

Gameplay module. Gameplay module will be seen if the user chose the Game Selection Module,

in this user interface the user is currently playing the game the user choose.

Chapter/Lecture Module. This include the Chapters that the researchers prepared for the games

and for the lectures. The data and other information will be saved in the databased that the

researchers prepared. Structured Query Language (MySQL) as the database, The Application is
created using Android Studio and Unity as the developing software, Java and C# as the

programming language. Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3230M CPU @ 2.60GHz, 64-bit OS, x64-based

processor as the specifications of the unit (Laptop) used.

 Theoretical Framework

Start Game, Start Lecture and Access

Setting Sub module, play game with or Mind Tech: Educational Android based
without sounds. game for Computer Fundamentals

Wait for the command such as Start

Game, Start Lecture and Access
Menu Selection Module
Setting Sub module. > Setting Sub Module

Select Game Mode or Lecture Game Selection Chapter / Lecture

Mode Module Selection Module

Wait for the selected mode

Gameplay Module Chapter / Lecture
Module
Select the type of game in game mode and
select chapter for lecture mode.

Wait for the selected Game or Chapter.

Play game with the selected game or View

the selected Chapter/Topic.

Wait for the Commands such as True or False, Multiple

(A, B, C, D) and etc.

STORE DATA RETRIEVE DATA

Figure I – Framework presentation of Mind Tech:

Android based game for Computer Fundamentals.
DATABASE
Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework is the structure that can hold or support theory of the research
study. It introduce and describe the study and show the process of the product the researchers
made.
Figure I shows the access modules of the user, a menu driven user interface will be shown
after the application opened. ‘’ Menu Selection Module’’ is the menu driven module that will be
divided into two (2) main level of access after that user started to operate the application. A sub
module is shown for the user to configure whether the application will play with sounds or the
application will play without sounds.
The two (2) main level of access the user could enter are Game Selection Module for the
user to play the games and Chapter Selection Module for the user to browse the chapters of the
syllabus the researchers prepared. Each of the two (2) main level of access have the end modules
which is the in gameplay interface and paragraph interface. The storing and retrieving of data will
done by the database the researchers prepared and only the researcher could change the flow of
the application’s process for security purposes.
 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter presents the collection of the related literature of this study. It will serve as a basis

and a tool to understand the study.

Computer

A computer is an electronic device, operating under the control of instructions stored in its

own memory. These instructions tell the machine what to do. The computer is capable of accepting

data (input), processing data arithmetically and logically, producing output from the processing,

and storing the results for future use. Most computers that sit on a desktop are called Personal

Computers (PCs).

The "computer" is an ensemble of different machines that you will be using to get your job

done. A computer is primarily made of the Central Processing Unit (usually referred to as the

computer), the monitor, the keyboard, and the mouse. Other pieces of hardware are commonly

referred to as peripherals. (Adebisi,2014)

HISTORY OF COMPUTER

Since the creation of man, a significant amount of human activities has been ascribed to

organizing and processing information so that it could be more easily presented for easy

comprehension. Many devices have been used in the past before the advert of computer. It is then

necessary to vividly look into their evolution. Early computing machines:

1. Abacus (-2500BC): This is a hand- held device made of beads stung on rods in a frame. The

rods correspond to positions of the digits while the beads correspond to the digits.

2. Napierís Bone (2500BC): This was invented by John Napierís (1550 - 1617). This consists of

small rods with appropriate markings on them. It is a mechanical aid to computation that consists

of nine such rods (called bones) with one for each digit 1 through 9. He also invented logarithms

which made possible to do division and multiplication by performing addition and subtraction.

3. Slide Rule (1600AD) by William Oughtred (1575 - 660): He invented it in 1622 but announced

it in 1632 this consist of rules on which markings represent logarithms of numbers and also permits

calculation involving exponents, trigonometric functions, etc.

4. Pascal mechanical calculator (1600) or Numerical wheel calculator:-Blaise Pascal (1623 -1664)

in 1642 invented the first adding machine called Pascaline. The brass rectangular box used eight

moveable dials to add and sum up of eight figures long using base 10. It can perform all the four

arithmetic operation with previous unheard speed.

5. Leibnitz mechanical multiplier (1600): In 1694 Gottfried Wilhem Von Leibnitz (1646 -1716)

improved upon the pascaline by creating a machine that can also multiply using a system of dials

and gear.

6. Colmarís Calculator (1820) by Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar: This presented a more

practical approach to computing.

7. Punched-Card machine (Jacquardís loom) (1801): Joseph Marie Jacquard.

8. Mechanical computer: Charles Gabbage (1792-1871) Father of the computer. Difference engine

powered by steam and large as locomotive the machine has a stored program and could perform

calculations and print the result automatically. We also have Analytical engine credited to him.

9. Hermann Hollerith (1860-1929)

a. Hollerithís system punch-card reader machine:-for counting census result in 1890 in US.

b.formed tabulating machine company in 1896(TMC)

c. Automatic Tabulating Machine (ATM)-1900

d. TMC was renamed to International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) in 1924 after series

of mergers.

In summary, the history of computing began with an analog machine. In 1623 German

scientist Wilhelm Schikard invented a machine that could add, and with the aid of logarithm tables,

multiply and divide. Since then the development has pass through a lot of stages such as the

invention of punched cards to program patterns to create woven fabrics by Joseph-Marie Jacquard

a French inventor in 19th century.

Computer Fundamental

Computer Fundamental Courses Computer Fundamental courses at Academy of Learning

Career College are designed for students interested in managing and working productively with

common operating systems. These courses will provide a useful foundation for anyone interested

in using a computer or Courses Windows to troubleshoot common system problems or who wish

to upgrade to more advanced operating systems. (Academy of Learning Career College)

 It aims to give a general understanding of how a computer works, introduce to assembly-

level programming, prepares student for future courses, describe the fetch-execute cycle of a

computer, understand the different types of information which may be stored within a computer

memory and write a simple assembly language program. (Cambridge Computer Laboratory,

2010)

Course topics: A Brief History of Computing, Operation of a Simple Computer, Input / Output and

MIPS Assembly Language (Adebesi, 2014).

Android Based Game

Though this widespread of technology, the computer has been improve where it

incorporates with the in demand nowadays are the tablets, touchpads, and mini pads. Most of these

tablets are powered Android OS system that is used to be able to execute the android programs. In

years there are several versions of operating system which are now used to execute the tablets,

smartphones and android phones.

Android is the most popular mobile platform in the world. Android development is

becoming an increasingly popular field. For developers who want to target a huge, diverse

audience, The in demand use of computer system software has been implemented from PC, mobile

and even other means of technology and Applications / Games are now invading it. In years,

Games are also being implemented by the use of the World Wide Web. Programmers and

developers continuously discover and develop new faces, styles of games or apps which most of

the people were looking forward in it. (Ibot, 2017)

Effectiveness of Gaming in the Classroom

 The idea of using games to engage students in the process of active learning is not new.

Over the past several years, educators have been increasingly incorporating various games into

their teaching curriculum in an effort to create a fun and engaging learning environment for

students. Although this can be very challenging and time consuming, interactive, collaborative and

competitive games tend to motivate and encourage student participation in the learning process.

Over the years, the format for classroom games has changed drastically. There are many more

options that incorporate the use of technology and interactivity. Quinn and Iverson argued that

students “need to be engaged more and to be put at the centre of the learning experience to change

from ‘passive vessel’ to ‘active participant’” (Milczynski 2010)

 REFERENCES

Roxannie Ibot, 2017 Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/4215821/CHAPTER1_-

_ANDROID_GAME

Adebesi, J. 2014 Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258339295_FUNDAMENTALS_OF_COMPUTER_S
TUDIES

Academy of Learning Career College, 2018. Retrieved from

https://www.academyoflearning.ab.ca/courses/computer-fundamental/

Cambridge Computer Laboratory, 2010. Retrieved from

https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/teaching/1011/CompFunds/CompFunds.pdf

Milczynski, K. (2010) Effectiveness of Gaming in the Classroom. Retrieved from

https://msu.edu/~milczyn1/artifacts/LITERATUREREVIEW_KAREN_MILCZYNSKI.pdf