IADIS International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age (CELDA 2008)

METAPHOR-BASED EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE FOR

BEGINNERS LEARNING OF OPERATING SYSTEMS
Maria Kordaki*
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, Patras University, 26500, Rion Patras, Greece

George Strimpakos*
Prospective Computer Engineer

Zisis Charalampidis*
Prospective Computer Engineer

Thanasis Daradoumis**
Associate professor
Department of Computer Sciences, Open University of Catalonia, Rambla Poblenou 156, 08018 Barcelona, Spain

**

ABSTRACT
This paper presents the design of educational software for beginners learning of basic concepts of Operating Systems
(OS). The design of the proposed educational software is based on modern social and constructivist learning theories as
well as on the essential role of metaphors and of computer tools in student learning. In particular, the architecture of the
proposed software consists of two main parts: a) the information space where students are provided with opportunities to
access appropriate information about OS and to study scheduling, using a simple and fundamental algorithm; the Priority
Round-Robin (PRR) algorithm, and b) the experimentation space where learners can take control of their learning by
forming their own set of tasks, assigning them priorities and durations and also scheduling them using the PRR
algorithm. Finally, the proposed system has been designed so that to provide pupils with feedback so that they may make
self corrections.
KEYWORDS
Educational software, Operating Systems, Secondary Education.

1. INTRODUCTION
Understanding and advocating of Computer Science (CS) as an essential component of a well-rounded
education is a key factor in ensuring that young students have the skills needed, not just to survive, but to
thrive in this increasingly technological and global society. To this end, a four-level model curriculum of CS
for K-12 has been proposed (ACM, 2003). For the achievement of the goals of this curriculum, the
introduction of young students to the concept of an OS is critical. At this point, it is worth noting that, various
studies have reported the significance of the use of metaphors in the learning of concepts within the complex
domain of CS (Carrol & Tomas, 1982; Carrol and Mack, 1999; Hsu, 2006; Borgman, 1999; Cameron, 2002).
A metaphor is a kind of linguistic figure with the form X is Y consisting of two major parts (Carrol and
Mack, 1999). These major parts include novel concepts (X = target domain), previously acquired knowledge
(Y = base domain), and the relationship between the two (Wozny, 1989). The significant role of metaphors is
based on the fact that - when they are used - the critical role of students prior knowledge in acquiring new
knowledge is acknowledged as well as the essential role of engaging learners in real life problems (Lakoff &
Johnson, 1980; Ortony, 1979). In the context of metaphors, learners can also form more comprehensive
mental models, which results in better performance when they carry out complex tasks (Hsu, 2006).

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Appropriately designed computer-based learning environments can play a crucial role in student learning
(Noss and Hoyles, 1996; Jonassen, 1999). In fact, computers are an ideal medium for providing unique
opportunities for the design of learning situations within the framework of modern social and constructivist
theories of learning (Jonassen, 1999). To this end, students could become actively engaged in their learning
and also receive appropriate feedback (Hummel, 2006). In addition, computers can provide wide
opportunities for the construction of appropriately designed metaphors for the learning of complex concepts.
Here, it is worth noting that, the importance of using educational software in teaching OS courses is clearly
depicted in surveys conducted by (Davoli & Goldweber, 2003; Anderson & Nguyen, 2005). Several attempts
have also been made to build general-purpose computer system simulators that allow undergraduate students
to undergo an innovative and pedagogically different experience of learning OS (Morsiani & Davoli, 1999;
Goldweber, et. al, 2005; Holland, et. al., 2002; Hovemeyer, et. al., 2004). More recent work has contributed
in creating instructional simulators with a high degree of performance realism and simplicity (DeRosa, et. al.,
2006; Dobrilovic & Stojanov, 2006; Liu, et. al., 2007; Laverell, et. al., 2008). Despite the above, educational
software for the learning of basic aspects of OS by secondary level education students through the use of
metaphors has not yet been reported. In the following sections of this paper, the design and the features of the
proposed software are described. Finally, conclusions and proposals for future research are drawn.

2. DESIGN OF THE PROPOSED SOFTWARE: THE RATIONALE

In the design of the proposed educational software, socio-cultural and constructivist perspectives on
knowledge construction (Jonassen, 1999; Vygotsky, 1974) were taken into account. The role of tools and of
digital media and learning environments as mediators for the development of students higher mental
functions has been also acknowledged (Vygotsky, 1974; Noss & Hoyles, 1996). In the context of
constructivist learning, the role of exploiting a students prior knowledge is very important in facilitating his
or her learning of new concepts. To this end, the role of metaphors as mediators of students previous
knowledge in the construction of a knowledge representation for some knowledge domain has been
acknowledged (Carrol and Mack, 1999). Metaphors can have the form of kernel comparison statements
whose primary function in learning is to stimulate active learner-initiated thought processes. Metaphors are
open-ended because open-ended comparisons stimulate these processes more than explicit and
comprehensive comparisons do. Metaphors are also incomplete, but claiming to be powerful because of both;
the similarities and differences between the target and the source domain (Dubinsky & Hazzan, 2003). The
success of a metaphor depends on having a familiar domain to analogize from and on recognizing enough in
the new domain for some correspondence to be established (Gentner, 1983). In fact, a metaphor X is Y can
facilitate active learning by providing them with opportunities to generate and test various hypotheses about
the target novel domain (X) based on the similarities and dissimilarities it has with the base domain (Y). To
this end, metaphors can be used as orienting frameworks, at the same time leaving many operational details
for the learner to discover. Metaphors used cannot be too complex but have to be carefully crafted and
presented in such a way as to help learners to form comprehensive and appropriate connections between the
metaphor and critical points of the new knowledge. The use of more than one metaphor is also appropriate
for the learning of a novel concept. It can also become a principal learning process, when students are
encouraged to be involved in a process of generating their own metaphors regarding a novel learning subject
(Carrol and Mack, 1999).
Taking into account all the above, we propose the design of an interactive metaphor-based computer
environment for beginners learning of basic concepts related to an OS. Specifically, the emphasis is put on
the understanding by students of the most important missions of an OS, which are the management of all the
resources that constitute the configuration of a modern computer system and which coordinate the access
any user activity will have on them (Tanenbaum, 2001; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system).
Scheduling is a key concept in computer multitasking and multiprocessing operating system design, as well
as in real-time OS design (Tanenbaum, 2001; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheduling_(computing)). It refers
to the way processes are assigned priorities in a priority queue. This assignment is carried out by software
known as a scheduler. Among the plethora of common scheduling practices and disciplines, the Priority
Round-Robin Scheduling algorithm is one of the oldest, simplest, fairest and most widely used scheduling
algorithms designed especially for time-sharing systems (Faisstnauer, Schmalstieg, Purgathofer, 2000). Thus,
we decided to design an emulation of Priority Round-Robin (PRR) algorithm (Faisstnauer, Schmalstieg,

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Purgathofer, 2000) in order for students to understand how scheduling works. The PRR algorithm was
chosen because of its simplicity but it was preferred to the classic RR algorithm because the latter was too
simple.

3. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE

The proposed software will be organized in HTML pages, with its features being presented on its main page,
and classified into two parts: i) information, and ii) experimentation space.

3.1 Information
The information space has been designed to provide three type of information: a) general information - in the
form of text - about basic aspects related to OS, such as task management, scheduling and the notion of time
quantum as well as a simple description of the PRR algorithm, b) appropriate URLs for further study, and c)
metaphoric ready examples of task scheduling using a specific time quantum and the PRR algorithm. The
metaphor examples used have to be selected in order to be simple and familiar to the students. To this end,
the set of tasks to be scheduled have to stem from students everyday life; thus, they will have the
opportunity to easily grasp the concept of task scheduling using priorities. In addition, students will have the
opportunity to give meaning to the concept of time quantum, as it will be far greater than those actually used
by a real OS. By exploring these metaphor examples, students also will have the chance to estimate
similarities and dissimilarities between these metaphoric examples and real OS. In this way, students can
acquire a deeper understanding of the basic concepts of OS and of PRR algorithm.

3.2 Experimentation Space

Within the experimentation space, students can learn about the previously mentioned concepts by taking an
active role designing their own metaphor examples. In fact, students have to be provided with the following
possibilities: a) to define a time quantum that they can select from a list and b) to define their own scenario of
tasks (for example 10 tasks) and to assign them with the priorities they prefer. Students also will have the
chance to define the duration of each task in terms of the time quantum they selected in the previously
mentioned step, c) to schedule the set of tasks according to their own conception of PRR algorithm, and d) to
receive feedback from the system in terms of automatically scheduling the said set of tasks using the PRR
algorithm. Appropriate help have to be also provided for the students to easily perform all the related
operations provided by the software. By forming their own metaphors, students can be active and also take
control of their learning. Students can also focus on the previously mentioned critical concepts related to OS
and the PRR algorithm. Students can also generate more than one metaphorical context of tasks so that they
can clarify these critical concepts. Then, students can further discuss and hypothesize about similarities and
dissimilarities of the task scheduling in this metaphorical open-ended context and the context of the real OS
and the PRR algorithm. In this sense, the metaphorical contexts formed can act as orienting frameworks
leaving many other details for the students to explore with their teachers in the discussion sections.
Moreover, by forming their own familiar domain to analogize from and on recognizing enough in the new
domain of OS using PRR, students are expected to be able to establish some correspondences.

4. EPILOGUE AND FUTURE PLANS

The design of interactive metaphor-based educational software for the learning of basic concepts of an
Operating System by beginners has been presented in this paper. In the context of this software, students will
have the chance to learn about some critical concepts related to OS, such as task scheduling, task priorities
and time quantum, using a simulation of the Priority Round-Robin algorithm. In the context of this proposed
educational software, students can experience enjoyment and pleasure by forming their own task scenarios
and assigning them both priorities and durations as well as scheduling them and receiving feedback by the
system. It is also expected that students will try interacting with the proposed software a number of times to

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reflect and make clarifications and abstractions about basic aspects of OS and the PRR algorithm. To verify
our expectations, the implementation of the proposed software well as the performance of field studies to
assess its impact on the learning of real students are in our future plans.

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