This paper reports a formative analysis of a Math Modeling Tool in the Algebra II Cognitive Tutor. This tutor is designed to support algebraic reasoning about real world problems. This study focuses on reasoning about situations that can be modeled with general linear form expressions (c = ax + by). Formative evaluations of an early general linear form lesson showed that it helped students comp...

Non-cognitive and behavioral phenomena, including gaming the system, off-task behavior, and affect, have proven to be important for understanding student learning outcomes. The nature of these phenomena requires investigations into their causal structure. For example, given that gaming the system has been associated with poorer learning outcomes, would reducing such behavior improve outcomes? A...

Using the domain of logical programming, we illustrate a diagnosis and epistemological remediation framework, which exploits the nature of skills involved in the exercises practiced. The main contribution in this article is the framework generality where classical approaches may be incorporated as well as tutor or author custom choices for this process: an authoring tool or educational artifact...

Cognitive Tutors are primarily developed as instructional systems, with the goal of helping students learn. However, the systems are inherently also data collection and assessment systems. In this paper, we analyze data from over 3,000 students in a school district using Carnegie Learning’s Middle School Mathematics tutors and model performance on standardized tests. Combining a standardized pr...

This paper describes the process of designing the interface for a non-conventional computational system that teaches ballet. We first describe the requirements of this system, and in turn discuss the methodologies we will undertake in order to meet those requirements.

This paper investigates how frequent conversation patterns from a mixed-initiative dialogue with an intelligent tutoring system, AutoTutor, can significantly predict users’ affective states (e.g. confusion, eureka, frustration). This study adopted an emote-aloud procedure in which participants were recorded as they verbalized their affective states while interacting with AutoTutor. The tutor-tu...

In this age of fake news and alternative facts, the need for a citizenry capable of critical thinking has never been greater. While teaching critical thinking skills in the classroom remains an enduring challenge, research on an ill-defined domain like critical thinking in the educational technology space is even more scarce. We propose a difficulty factors assessment (DFA) to explore two facto...

In this paper we present some work aiming at creating a virtual language tutor. The ambition is to create a tutor that can be engaged in many aspects of language learning from detailed pronunciation training to conversational practise. Some of the crucial components of such a system are described. An initial implementation of a stress/quantity training tutor for Swedish will be presented.

We present an approach to designing intelligent tutoring systems, termed the Difficulty Factors Approach. In this approach, the designer investigates, at each iteration of the design cycle, which skills and concepts are difficult for students, and what factors underlie those difficulties. We show that this approach complements existing design principles, producing data that helps designers appl...

We have developed a tutor to learn encapsulation in C++ classes, as discussed in a typical introductory comput er science course. The tutor helps students better understand encapsulation by administering problems for them to solve and providing instant feedback. In this paper, we will describe the design, features, use and the results of preliminary evaluation of the tutor.