SBIR Phase I: An automated tutoring software that teaches K-12 students coding through integration with popular video games

SBIR第一期项目将开发一个智能自动化辅导系统，用于向K-12学生教授编程。在美国，数百万6-14岁的学生对学习如何修改流行的电子游戏很感兴趣，但却缺乏必要的技能：编码。编程是一门非常有价值的STEM学科，但目前在美国学校并不是核心学科。由于美国没有在计算机领域培养足够的熟练工人，每年将有56,000个工作岗位没有由美国工人填补。这个项目的目的是暴露数以百万计的学生编码在未来5年，使他们可以访问建模。为了大规模地教授数百万学生，该项目将开发一个复杂的自动化辅导系统，该系统可以智能地指导学生进行编程教育，在学生遇到错误时检测并帮助他们，并为学生提供几乎无穷无尽的谜题和教育内容。该项目计划解决计算机科学教育领域的持续问题。通过该项目开发的自动化辅导系统将成为教授其他STEM科目的自动化辅导系统的基础。该项目的主要技术创新是一个基于浏览器的IDE，用于编写代码并在视频游戏的运行环境中执行。这种固有的游戏化编码环境为计算机科学教育打开了新的大门。围绕这个编码环境，一个自动化的辅导系统正在建立。本项目旨在解决计算机科学教育中的几个问题。这些问题包括：(1)一个隐形评估系统，当学生不理解编码概念时，它可以识别并指导学生理解；(2)一个对新手友好的错误检测和报告系统，它可以向学生指出错误产生的代码部分；(3)一个面向新手程序员的类似堆栈溢出的自动化资源，当新手遇到错误时，它可以提供可能的解决方案；(4)一个随机的谜题生成器，它为不同的技能水平创造了几乎无穷无尽的编码教育内容，(5)教程和谜题，使从可视化编程语言到语法复杂的编程语言的过渡游戏化，以及(6)教师工具和api，允许教师将软件集成到他们的课堂中。通过解决计算机科学教育中的这些问题，本项目旨在制作一个有效的可扩展的编程教育工具。

This SBIR Phase I project would result in the development of an intelligent automated tutoring system for teaching coding to K-12 students. Millions of 6-14 year old students in the U.S. have an interest in learning how to mod ("modify") popular video games, but lack the necessary skillset: coding. Coding is a highly valuable STEM subject, but is not currently a core subject in U.S. schools. Because the U.S. is not producing enough skilled workers in computing fields, there will be 56,000 jobs that go unfilled by U.S. workers every year. This project aims to expose millions of students to coding in the next 5 years by making modding accessible to them. In order to teach millions of students at scale, this project will develop a complex automated tutoring system which intelligently guides students through their coding education, detects and helps students when they run into errors, and provides students with a near-endless supply of puzzles and educational content. This project plans to tackle ongoing problems in the field of computer science education. The automated tutoring system developed through this project will be a foundation for automated tutoring systems that teach other STEM subjects.The main technical innovation of this project is a browser-based IDE for writing code and executing it within the runtime environment of video games. This inherently gamified coding environment opens new doors in computer science education. Around this coding environment, an automated tutoring system is being built. This project aims to tackle several problems in computer science education. These problems include: (1) a stealth assessment system that identifies when a student does not understand a coding concept and that guides the student towards understanding, (2) a novice-friendly error detection and reporting system that points students to the part of their code where the error originated, (3) an automated Stack Overflow-like resource for novice programmers that suggests possible solutions when the novice encounters an error, (4) a random puzzle generator that creates a near-endless supply of coding educational content for different skill levels, (5) tutorials and puzzles that gamify the transition from a visual programming language to a syntactically complex programming language, and (6) teacher tools and APIs that allow teachers to integrate the software into their classrooms. By solving these problems in computer science education, this project aims to make an effective coding education tool that scales.