Making Learning Fun At The Blockme@APU Competition

Using Unplugged Concepts to teach the understanding of early AI Games Development

Interactive activities can really transform the learning dynamic for students. Here’s what happened last month when Learning meets Fun with the help of the Blokus.

Initiated by Ts. Dr. Vinothini and her team from the School of Computing & Technology, the idea of using unplugged concepts to teach the understanding of early Artificial Intelligence (AI) game development led to the discovery of the Blokus Board Game. The BlockMe @ APU Championship was conducted with a group of 20, Undergraduates and Postgraduates students, where they are required to plan and work through the game in a logical way.

Blokus is an abstract strategy game with transparent, Tetris-shaped colored pieces that players place onto the board. The only caveat to placing a piece is that it may not lie adjacent to your other pieces, but instead must be placed touching at least one corner of your pieces already on the board. 

As student live and work side by side with AI in this era, this game is an excellent way to stimulate Spatial Thinking, Visual Perception and Strategic Thinking. Students will need to plan ahead and consider possible moves by other players. It takes skill, not luck to win the game. 

According to Ts. Dr. Vinothini, this game is also especially beneficial for student taking 'Introduction to Artificial Intelligence' module as part of their studies.

“The Blokus board game is used to teach early games development in AI. Students are required to discover how the game is played and the logic behind to build such game in algorithm or flowchart method.”

Meet Adam Flichoir, the winner of the BlockMe @ APU Championship. He was thrilled to be crowned champion as this was his first attempt with Blokus.

‘I could not believe I’m the winner for this competition as there were so many students joining together. This whole experience has been a lot of fun for me, I appreciate Dr. Vinothini for inviting us to this competition. I will definitely join more competitions like this in the future.'

The other winners include Jeffrey Wong Zong Han, our Bachelor of Computer Science (Hons) Intelligent Systems student and Lee Yi Hang, currently pursing in Diploma in Information and Communications Technology (Software Engineering).

All 3 winners walk away with a brand-new printer and a big smile on their face.

Amazing efforts by the School of Computing for making learning enjoyable for our students. Kudos to the organising team members which are Ts. Dr. Vinothini Kasinathan, Ms. Tham Hoong Ching, Ms. Akansha Mandhana and Ms. T.Tulasi Sathyabama Appalasamy.