Abstract:

Nim is a well-researched two-person game that is typically introduced in a variety of courses for majors in computer science and mathematics where sufficient mathematical background is necessary for a rigorous exploration. Although Nim has many variations, the basic rules include players alternating turns taking some number of objects until there are no objects remaining. Nim can be used at a naive level as a vehicle for investigating aspects of critical thinking and problem solving through manually playing multiple games in a guided discovery model of teaching. Through guided discovery, students are asked to play a series of games where they analyse possible game moves, make conjectures, and test their conjectures with respect to determining who will win based on perfect play. In the end, the students share the “Ah-Ha!” moment when they determine the magic number which allows them to determine the winner before playing the game. Students who take this course are all non-mathematics majors and are taking this course as a required general mathematics course.

Keywords:

Nim, critical thinking, problem solving, undergraduate general education.