The Mastermind game: a combinatorial approach

The game-based teaching project proposed in the subsequent sections has been realized in a 15-year-old non-English native speakers’ class. The activity is based on the Mastermind game and adopts the CLIL approach in the initial phase. The gamification strategy allows a comfortable introduction of elements of set theory, logic, combinatorics. Moreover, algorithmic thinking skills are improved, as well as various soft skills. The English as L2 language has been chosen since it is the most widely spoken for video games and coding. The authors propose a game-based approach since in every game there are rules that must be understood and applied and there is a goal to be achieved. The students, captivated by the game, are interested in reflecting on rules and procedures and are willing to put their skills into motion. The project experimented the effectiveness of games as a teaching tool to convey mathematical concepts.