Lucija Žnidarič, Aleša Žandar, Tadej Bogataj, Matej Zapušek, Jože Rugelj, Univerza v Ljubljani, Pedagoška fakulteta, oddelek za matematiko in računalništvo

Mysterious Surini is an educational computer game created for children attending both elementary schools as well as high schools where they may find themselves learning the basics of search algorithms. The game gives the player a piracy-themed adventure, where he learns and internalizes the workings of the Dijkstra’s algorithm through well-selected activities. Dijkstra’s algorithm is used for finding the cheapest path in a given graph. The algorithm is used in various fields of science, for example computer science, where it is used for routing packages of information that travel through the internet, making it useful for children to know about it. The design of the game is adjusted to the school environment, making its learning objectives hidden and offering a fun gaming experience. The player embarks the game as a friendly pirate, where he helps the governor of the island Fantan to find his missing daughter Arabel, who was kidnapped by a hostile tribe, the Tantams. He can only succeed if he successfully finds his way through four islands. To do that, he must find the least dangerous paths to all hostile tribe houses on each of the four islands. In this waye collects coins, making it possible to complete the game. All the four islands together represent a complete learning process of the above mentioned algorithm, whereas an individual island is used for the representation of a single learning stage. Mysterious Surini is a new opportunity for all teachers to embed a learning game in their curriculum, making it more interesting and diverse for the children as well as simplifying the process of learning while getting better results than ever before.