AI Software for Science Education Related to Drug Abuse

描述（由申请人提供）：第一阶段SBIR提案旨在提高化学教育软件的技术水平，满足学生、教师、管理人员和Quantum Simulations， Inc.客户的需求。这项创新的重点是开发有意义的互动辅导和评估能力，以解决化学问题。要让学生通过科学的过程对药物做出正确的决定，就需要扎实的基础化学教育。化学式构成了化学的大部分基本“语言”，学生要想成功，必须熟练掌握这些“语言”。化学式的书写和理解是所有普通化学课程的基石，是开发学生化学学习人工智能评估系统的合理起点。对化学式的深刻理解是取得化学成功的先决条件，这不仅要求学生具备从科学角度对药物做出明智决定的能力，而且还要求学生为从事与药物滥用有关的研究工作做好准备。量子科技已经成功开发并商业化了一个用于书写化学式的智能智能系统，这将作为本研究的起点。拟议中的技术将使所有学生受益；然而，它的目标是通过降低获取高质量科学教学软件的障碍来帮助那些有最大需求的人，比如表现一般或边缘的学生，以及来自历史上服务不足群体的学生。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Phase I SBIR proposal is aimed at advancing the state of the art in chemistry education software in a critically important respect demanded by students, teachers, administrators and Quantum Simulations, Inc. customers. The focus of this innovation is the development of meaningful interactive tutoring and assessment capabilities for chemistry problem solving. Empowerment of students to make the proper decisions about drugs through experiencing the scientific process requires a solid education in basic chemistry. Chemical formulas comprise much of the fundamental "language" of chemistry in which students must be fluent in order to succeed. The topic of writing and understanding chemical formulas, a cornerstone of all general chemistry classes, is a reasonable starting point for the development of an AI assessment system for student learning in chemistry. A solid understanding of chemical formulas is a prerequisite to success in chemistry required not only for literacy to make informed decisions about drugs from a scientific standpoint, but also to enable and prepare students to pursue careers in research related to drug abuse. Quantum has already successfully developed and commercialized an ITS for writing chemical formulas which will be used as the starting point for the present work. The proposed technology will benefit all students; however, it is specifically targeted to help those who have the greatest need, such as students of average or marginal performance and students from historically underserved groups, by lowering barriers to accessing high-quality science instructional software. Quantum customers include textbook publishers, software providers, hardware vendors and distance learning companies. A prominent textbook publisher, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, has entered into two long-term contracts with Quantum, resulting in rapid dissemination to an established end user base. Quantum intends to employ an identical business model to commercialize the results of this project.