Collaborative Research: PRIME: Engaging STEM Undergraduate Students in Computer Science with Intelligent Tutoring Systems

“让STEM本科生参与计算机科学与智能辅导系统”项目将看到个性化实时智能辅导环境（PRIME）系统的设计，开发和评估，该系统将提供自适应问题解决支持和自适应动机支持，以帮助学生学习解决计算问题。PRIME将跟踪每个学生的进度，同时在学生的学习互动中提供实时反馈，多层次的提示和定制的问题解决建议。 该项目将使用块编程语言“Snap！“因为它消除了大多数语法错误，让学生专注于概念和逻辑。入门计算是许多STEM本科课程的必要组成部分，并且由于计算对所有STEM学科的根本重要性，将计算引入STEM本科生的课程具有巨大的潜力，可以塑造学生培养计算流畅性的方式，这将在他们的职业生涯中为他们服务。 PRIME智能辅导系统将在北卡罗来纳州州立大学的一个大型入门计算课程中进行评估，该大学每年为2,000多名学生提供服务。PRIME环境也将在佛罗里达大学和佛罗里达A M大学（一所历史上的黑人大学）进行评估。PRIME的实验研究将有两个重点：调查其对帮助学生学习计算的影响（分析问题，创建模型和抽象，以及构建和改进程序），并改善学生对计算的态度（计算的自我效能和计算兴趣）。

The "Engaging STEM Undergraduate Students in Computer Science with Intelligent Tutoring Systems" project will see the design, development, and evaluation of the Personalized Real-time Intelligent Mentoring Environment (PRIME) system, which will provide adaptive problem-solving support and adaptive motivational support to help students learn to solve computing problems. PRIME will track each student's progress while providing real-time feedback, multiple levels of hints, and customized problem-solving advice throughout students' learning interactions. The project will use the block programming language "Snap!" as it eliminates most syntax errors, freeing students to focus on concepts and logic.Introductory computing is a required component of many STEM undergraduate curricula, and because of the fundamental importance of computing for all STEM disciplines, courses that introduce computing to STEM undergraduates hold enormous potential for shaping the way students develop computational fluency that will serve them throughout their careers. The PRIME intelligent tutoring system will be evaluated in a large introductory computing course at North Carolina State University, which serves more than 2,000 students each year. The PRIME environment will also be evaluated at the University of Florida and at Florida A&M University, a Historically Black University. Experimental studies with PRIME will have a dual focus: investigating its impacts on helping students learn about computing (analyzing problems, creating models and abstractions, and building and refining programs) and improving students' attitudes towards computing (self-efficacy for computing and interest in computing).