The von Neumann Computer Game

The educational game "von Neumann Computer Game" can be used in schools to teach pupils the basic principles of how a computer works, based on the von Neumann architecture, in a playful and step-by-step manner. The game can also be used in the museum education of computer museums and technology museums as well as in adult education. The goal of the "von Neumann Computer Game" is to playfully recreate the information logistics in the computer, how, under the supervision of the control unit, data is transferred from the memory to the computing unit, processed there, and stored back. The processes are controlled by the control unit with a program. The processes in the control unit and in the arithmetic unit are played by one pupil each. Each piece of information is represented as a number by a pupil with a sign. The seats in the class become storage locations of numerical data. In the class, the pupils carry the information back and forth on signs. The "von Neumann Computer Game" can be used in didactics for the subjects computer science, mathematics and media literacy. The game can be used in schools, where it can be played in the classroom, and in exhibition rooms of museums, where it can be guided by museum education. It can be played from grade 3 and up and covers only elementary arithmetic operations of plus, minus, times and division. Depending on the grade level, the game can be played at different levels of difficulty. In grade 10, for example, the values of a polynomial of degree 3 can be calculated step by step. The "von Neumann Computer Game" can be used not only in schools but also in adult education to acquire media competence or in retraining programs to teach learners the basic principles of how a computer works. The "von Neumann Computer Game" can be taught at universities and colleges of education for teacher training in courses on didactics for the subjects of computer science, mathematics and media competence. In terms of media theory, the game is of interest because it opens a rift to the immeasurable space of human creativity in the field of software development and software application, which can take place on hardware that at first seems a bit brittle.