Skip to main content

A Solution of the Mastermind Board Game in Scratch Suitable for Algorithmic Thinking Development

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Book cover Applied Physics, System Science and Computers II (APSAC 2017)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering ((LNEE,volume 489))

  • 625 Accesses

Abstract

The article is a case study of a specific problem - popular board game Mastermind and its solution in Scratch, visual online programming language. Emphasis is put on the educational perspective both in the logic behind the solution itself and on the way the problem can be presented to elementary school pupils. The article is focused on logical explanation of the solution and on work with several specific programming elements, like IF-ELSE conditions, data structures and simple bug hunting feature. The difficulty is suitable for elementary school pupils as a complex task meant for superior individuals or a group of pupils. It was successfully tested as a small scale preliminary study conducted on pupils aged between 11 and 14 at an extracurricular group.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Musílek, M.: Kapitoly z dějin informatiky. Gaudeamus, Hradec Kralove (2011). ISBN: 978-80-7435-129-7

    Google Scholar 

  2. Mastermind Rules. http://www.pressmantoy.com/game-rules/Mastermind_rules.pdf

  3. Stuckman, J., Zhang, G.Q.: Mastermind is NP-Complete (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Goodritch, M.T.: On the algorithmic complexity of the Mastermind game with black-peg results. Inf. Process. Lett. 109, 675–678 (2009)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  5. Temporel, A., Kovacs, T.: A heuristic hill climbing algorithm for Mastermind. In: Proceedings of the 2003 UK Workshop on Computational Intelligence, UKCI 2003, Bristol, United Kingdom, pp. 189–196 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Kohoutek, R.: Kognitivní vývoj dětí a školní vzdělávání. In: Pedagogická orientace 2008, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 3–22 (2008). ISSN: 1805-9511

    Google Scholar 

  7. Rossing, J.P., Miller, W.M., Cecil, A.K., Stamper, S.E.: iLearning: the future of higher education? Student perceptions on learning with mobile tablets. J. Scholarsh. Teach. Learn. 12(2), 1–26 (2012). ISSN: 1527-9316

    Google Scholar 

  8. Scratch 3.0. In: Scratch Wiki (2017). https://wiki.scratch.mit.edu/wiki/Scratch_3.0. Accessed 17 June 2017

  9. Ganesh, S.G.: Joy of Programming: Bug Hunt (2017). http://opensourceforu.com/2011/03/joy-of-programming-bug-hunt/. Accessed 17 June 2017

  10. Hidden Features: Turbo Mode. In: Scratch Wiki (2017). https://wiki.scratch.mit.edu/wiki/Hidden_Features#Turbo_Mode. Accessed 13 June 2017

  11. Milková, E., Petránek, K.: Programming courses reflecting students’ aptitude testing and implementing learning style preferences research results. Int. J. Math. Comput. Simul. 10, 218–225 (2016). ISSN: 2074-1316

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The paper has been supported by Specific Research Project of Faculty of Science, University of Hradec Kralove, 2017 and by Specific Research Project of Faculty of Education University of Hradec Kralove, 2017.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tomas Hornik .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Hornik, T., Coufal, P., Musilek, M., Hubalovsky, S. (2019). A Solution of the Mastermind Board Game in Scratch Suitable for Algorithmic Thinking Development. In: Ntalianis, K., Croitoru, A. (eds) Applied Physics, System Science and Computers II. APSAC 2017. Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, vol 489. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75605-9_14

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75605-9_14

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75604-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75605-9

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics