Abstract
We have developed a workshop “How a Computer Works” Aimed for Intuitive Comprehension and Motivation. In this paper, we describe instructional design of the self-learning materials and the workshop, and assess them. Our instructional objectives are verbal information where students learn technical terms and intellectual skills where the students describe how a computer works with drawing a figure. Our strategies include that the students acquire the verbal information with reading the self-learning materials and that they acquire the intellectual skills by the workshop. We also survey the students to assess their perceptions of the workshop. We received 58 valid responses from among 60 students. The following is a summary of the survey responses: (1) Fifty-four of the 58 (93%) students answered that the workshop was enjoyable. (2) Enjoyment of the workshop seemed to relate to the students’ confidence about achievement of the objectives. We will teach the full-scale course in the fall of 2014 based on this study.
