IERI: Learning-Oriented Dialogs in Cognitive Tutors: Toward a Scalable Solution to Performance Orientation

拟议的工作将评估包括城市和郊区学校在内的一系列学校使用四门认知导师中级数学课程的情况，并将这些课程与不使用教育软件的课程的有效性进行比较。将开发辅导软件可以检测与不良学习结果相关的无效行为的方法。一系列研究将解决这样一种假设，即教学软件可以成为创造一个更注重学习的课堂的工具，如果它让学生参与到旨在帮助学生专注于并反思以学习为导向的行为的“学习对话”中，那么它就可以创造一个更注重学习的课堂，获得更好的学习结果。将对以下方法进行评估：在问题解决活动之前和期间提供交互式陈述性教学，在辅导课程开始时让学生设定学习目标，并让学生参与讨论，与其他学生或与自动学习伙伴代理进行讨论，在其中他们评估自己或彼此的学习行为。这些研究中使用的前后评估将旨在发现浅层学习，探索学生理解的深度，评估他们是否能够迅速吸收新材料(即，学生是否已成为更好的未来学习者)，并对学生的目标取向和动机进行评估。智力价值本研究将对学生浅层学习和无效学习行为的原因和程度产生新的认识。它还将产生关于教学软件如何帮助学生克服这些问题并成为更好的学习者的新知识。它将提供对城市和郊区学校学生目标定向和学习结果之间的差异的洞察。在教育心理学理论(特别是认知负荷理论)和认知理论(ACT-R理论)之间，以及相应地，在实验室教育心理学实验的严谨性(参见Clark&Amp；Mayer，2003)和课堂实验的现实主义(参见Bransford，Brown，&Amp；Cocking，2000)之间，将采取措施提供更好的整合。这项拟议工作的结果将对全国的中学数学教学产生直接影响，因为研究重点关注的四门课程将通过总部位于匹兹堡的卡内基学习公司的网络分发。创建在城市学校运作良好的课程将对占这些学校学生总数很大比例的少数族裔和低SES学生特别有帮助。它还应该使农村和郊区学校的弱势学生受益。

The proposed work will evaluate the use of the four Cognitive Tutor middle-level mathematics courses in a range of schools, including urban and suburban schools, comparing the effectiveness of these courses to that of courses not involving educational software. Methods will be developed with which the tutoring software can detect ineffective behaviors associated with poor learning outcomes. A series of studies will address the hypothesis that instructional software can be a vehicle for creating a more learning-oriented classroom, with better learning outcomes, if it engages students in "learning-oriented dialogues," designed to help students focus and reflect on learning-oriented behaviors. The following approaches will be evaluated:Providing interactive declarative instruction prior to and during problem-solving activities, Having students set learning goals at the beginning of tutoring sessions, andEngaging students in discussions, with other students or with an automated learning companion agent, in which they evaluate their own or each others' learning behaviors.The pre- and post-assessments used in these studies will be designed to detect shallow learning, probe the depth of students' understanding, assess whether they can quickly absorb new material (i.e., whether students have become better future learners), and evaluate students' goal orientation and motivation.Intellectual merit The proposed research will generate new knowledge about the causes and extent of students' shallow learning and ineffective learning behaviors with technology. It will also produce new knowledge about how instructional software can help students overcome those problems and be better learners. It will provide insight into the differences between students' goal orientation and learning results in urban and suburban schools. Steps will be taken to provide better integration between educational psychology theory (particularly Cognitive Load theory) and cognitive theory (ACT-R theory) and, correspondingly, between the rigor of laboratory educational psychology experiments (cf., Clark & Mayer, 2003) and the realism of classroom experiments (cf., Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000).Broad impact The proposed research, if successful, will improve American K-12 math education. Results from the proposed work will have a direct impact on middle-school math instruction across the country, since the four courses on which the research focuses will be distributed through the network of the Pittsburgh-based company Carnegie Learning, Inc. The creation of courses that work well in urban schools will be especially helpful to minority and low-SES students, who make up a large proportion of the student population of those schools. It should also benefit disadvantaged students in rural and suburban schools.