Supporting Chemistry Learning with Adaptive Support for Connection Making Between Graphical Representations in a Cognitive Tutoring System

在科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域取得成功取决于学习使用视觉特征来描述信息的图形表示的能力。许多教师认为视觉效果有助于学生学习，但如果学生不知道视觉效果如何显示信息，他们可能会感到困惑。该项目的目标是设计和研究一种名为Chem Tutor的教育技术的有效性，以帮助大学化学学生通过视觉学习。该项目将确定Chem Tutor技术如何帮助学生学习视觉知识，从而提高他们从视觉中学习复杂化学知识的能力。具体来说，该项目将侧重于支持两种表达技能：理解特定视觉特征如何说明概念（意义构建）的能力和视觉感知流畅性（类似于语言流畅性）。该项目将研究如何最好地结合这两种技能来学习表征，该技术也将被设计成适应个别学生的学习进度。该项目将在两年制和四年制大学的本科化学学习背景下进行，包括麦迪逊地区技术学院和威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校，并有望为其他STEM学科的教育技术发展提供信息。美国国家科学基金会改善本科STEM教育（IUSE: EHR）项目的目标是帮助化学学生在不需要脑力劳动的情况下获得使用图形表示的重要表达技能，即意义构建和感知流畅性。这将通过设计和研究Chem Tutor智能辅导系统来实现，该系统将适应每个学生的学习进度。化学导师的开发将依靠以用户为中心的设计技术，为本科化学学生创造一种有效的教育技术。接下来将进行一系列的实验来研究意义建构和感知流畅技能是如何相互作用的，对这些技能的支持应该如何结合起来，以及增强表征技能的适应性支持是否是提高化学学习成果的有效途径。此外，该项目将调查对两性平等的影响。因此，本项目将有助于教育心理学和化学教育研究关于图形表征在学生学习中的作用；为支持表达技能的适应性教育技术设计提供原则；并通过向两年制和四年制大学的学生免费传播《化学导师》的最终版本，为本科化学教育做出贡献。

Success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) depends on the ability to learn with graphical representations that use visual features to depict information. Many instructors assume that visuals help students learn, but they can be confusing if students do not know how the visuals show information. The goal of this project is to design and study the effectiveness of an educational technology called Chem Tutor to help college chemistry students learn with visuals. The project will determine how Chem Tutor technology can help students learn about visuals in a way that enhances their ability to learn from visuals about complex chemistry knowledge. Specifically, the project will focus on supporting two representation skills: the ability to make sense of how particular visual features illustrate concepts (sense-making) and perceptual fluency with visuals (akin to fluency in a language). The project will investigate how best to combine supports for these two skills in learning about representations, and the technology will also be designed to adapt to individual student's learning progress. This project will be conducted in the context of undergraduate chemistry learning at two-year and four-year colleges, including Madison Area Technical College and the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and is also expected to inform the development of educational technologies for other STEM disciplines.The goal of this NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE: EHR) project is to help chemistry students acquire the important representation skills of sense-making and perceptual fluency in using graphical representations without mental effort. This will be accomplished by designing and studying the Chem Tutor intelligent tutoring system that will adapt to individual student's learning progress. The development of Chem Tutor will rely on user-centered design techniques to create an effective educational technology for undergraduate chemistry students. A series of experiments will then be conducted to investigate how sense-making and perceptual-fluency skills interact, how support for these skills should be combined, and whether adaptive support for enhancing representation skills is an effective pathway to improve learning outcomes in chemistry. Further, the project will investigate effects on gender equality. Thus, the project will contribute to educational psychology and chemistry education research regarding the role of graphical representations in students' learning; yield principles for the design of adaptive educational technologies that support representation skills; and contribute to undergraduate chemistry education by freely disseminating the final version of Chem Tutor to students at two-year and four-year colleges.