Model-Based Reasoning for Domain Modeling in a Web-Based Intelligent Tutoring System to Help Students Learn to Debug C++ Programs

The benefits of using Model-Based Reasoning for domain modeling are several-fold. We analyze these benefits and illustrate them in the context of a Web-based Intelligent Tutoring System. The system is designed to teach students to analyze and debug C++ programs for semantic and run-time errors. We have evaluated one instance of the Model-Based tutor, which deals with debugging pointers in C++, in several sections of Computer Science II course. We will present the results of these evaluations, which confirm the learnability of Model-Based tutors.