| Expertise as Effective Strategy Use: Testing the Adaptive Strategies Model in the III-Structured Domain of Leadership |
AUG 2007 |
41 pages |
| Authors:
Mark U. McGregor; Christian D. Schunn; Lelyn D. Saner; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
 | This research tested the Adaptive Strategies Model (ASM; Lemaire & Siegler, 1995) of expertise in the ill-defined domain of leadership. More specifically, we examined expert/novice differences in all components of the ASM: strategy existence, strategy choice, strategy base-rate, and strategy execution. In Experiment 1 Leadership Scenarios elicited free-text responses from undergraduates (novices), ROTC Cadets (intermediates), and US Army Platoon Leaders (experts). Each response was coded into one of ten underlying ... |
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| Representation and Reasoning for Deeper Natural Language Understanding in a Physics Tutoring System |
Jan 2006 |
7 pages |
| Authors:
Maxim Makatchev; Kurt VanLehn; Pamela W Jordan; Umarani Pappuswamy; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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| Students' natural language (NL) explanations in the domain of qualitative mechanics lie in-between unrestricted NL and the constrained NL of proper domain statements. Analyzing such input and providing appropriate tutorial feedback requires extracting information relevant to the physics domain and diagnosing this information for possible errors and gaps in reasoning. In this paper we will describe two approaches to solving the diagnosis problem: weighted abductive reasoning and assumption-based truth maintenance ... |
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| A Natural Language Tutorial Dialogue System for Physics |
Jan 2006 |
7 pages |
| Authors:
Pamela W Jordan; Maxim Makatchev; Umarani Pappuswamy; Kurt VanLehn; Patricia Albacete; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| We describe the WHY2-ATLAS intelligent tutoring system for qualitative physics that interacts with students via natural language dialogue. We focus on the issue of analyzing and responding to multi-sentential explanations. We explore approaches for achieving a deeper understanding of these explanations and dialogue management approaches and strategies for providing appropriate feedback on them. |
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| Towards a Theory of Learning During Tutoring |
16 NOV 95 |
39 pages |
| Authors:
Kurt Van Lehn; Michelene T. Chi; William Baggett; R. C. Murray; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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| This progress report has 4 sections. The first gives an overview of the project, our pilot study, and our plans for future work.The second and third sections present the results from the pilot study in more detail. The last section discusses our plans for the main study. (AN) |
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| Analysis of Symbolic Parameter Models |
16 MAR 95 |
34 pages |
| Authors:
Herbert A. Simon; Thad Polk; Kurt VanLehn; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| Model-fitting, the problem of finding parameter settings that cause a model to fit given data as closely as possible, is a hard but important problem in cognitive science in general, and in cognitive diagnosis in particular. Efficient solutions have been found for certain types of model-fitting problems (e.g., linear and integer programming) that involve specific types of parameters (usually continuous) and models (usually linear). But these techniques usually do not ... |
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| ASPM2: Progress Toward the Analysis of Symbolic Parameter Models |
01 SEP 94 |
28 pages |
| Authors:
Thad A. Polk; Kurt VanLehn; Dirk Kalp; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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| Model-fitting, the problem of finding parameter settings that cause a model to fit given data as closely as possible, is a hard but important problem in cognitive science in general, and in cognitive diagnosis in particular. Efficient solutions have been found for certain types of model-fitting problems (e.g., linear and integer programming) that involve specific types of parameters (usually continuous) and models (usually linear). But these techniques usually do not ... |
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| Long Term Learning: Integration of Knowledge Acquisition and Knowledge Compilation |
14 JAN 94 |
6 pages |
| Authors:
Kurt Van Lehn; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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| This Report is the initial quarterly progress report for grant N00014-92-J-1945, entitled 'Long Term Learning: Integration of knowledge acquisition and knowledge compilation.' It covers the period July 1, 1992 to September 30, 1992. Two major objectives were achieved during this report period. The first was to consolidate our understanding of the sources of the learning that occurred in the protocols of 9 subjects learning physics over a period of about ... |
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| On-Line Assessment of Expertise |
07 JAN 94 |
|
| Authors:
Kurt VanLehn; Joel Martin; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
 | There was one major objective during this report period, to develop the assessment techniques for the qualitative problem solving, problem classification, and difficulty estimation activities. As noted in previous quarterly progress reports, these tasks reflect complex processes for which there are no established fine-grained cognitive models. When solving qualitative problems (no math), our cognitive task analysis suggest that students not only do deductive reasoning common to other physics problems, but ... |
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| On-Line Assessment of Expertise |
07 JAN 94 |
2 pages |
| Authors:
Kurt VanLehn; Joel Martin; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| There were two main objectives during this report period. The first was to extend Olae's physics rule base or cognitive domain model to include incorrect rules and correct but unusual rules. The second was to determine whether Olae was able to match fine-grained assessments performed by a person. Although Olae can model many correct and incorrect solution methods, the students in our first sample occasionally acted in unexpected ways. Before ... |
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| On-Line Assessment of Expertise |
07 JAN 94 |
2 pages |
| Authors:
Kurt VanLehn; Joel Martin; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| The main objective in this report period was to deal with the combinatorial explosion in the size of the belief networks needed to analyze regular problem solving behavior. As mentioned in our preceeding quarterly progress reports, Olae's belief networks can get quite large and intractable with non-toy knowledge bases. We have three approaches for handling this problem: (1) We improved our algorithm that builds a belief net incrementally so that ... |
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| On-Line Assessment of Expertise |
07 JAN 94 |
6 pages |
| Authors:
Kurt VanLehn; Joel Martin; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| In this period, we have continued the development of the assessment methods for the problem classification, qualitative problem solving, and difficulty estimation activities, whose design was discussed in the preceding quarterly progress report. In addition, we have prepared two journal papers, one of which has been submitted to Communications of the ACM for publication in a special issue devoted to applications of uncertain reasoning. For one of these papers, we ... |
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| Analysis of Symbolic Parameter Models |
04 MAR 93 |
3 pages |
| Authors:
Kurt VanLehn; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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| The Impact of an Intelligent Computer-Based Tutor on Classroom Social Processes: An Ethnographic Study |
11 FEB 93 |
18 pages |
| Authors:
Janet W. Schofield; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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| Analysis of Symbolic Models of Cognition Project (ASPM-Pitt), Grant Number N00014-91-J-1529 |
11 SEP 92 |
2 pages |
| Authors:
Kurt VanLehn; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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| On-Line Assessment of Expertise Project, Grant number N00014-91-J-1529 |
11 SEP 92 |
3 pages |
| Authors:
Kurt VanLehn; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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| Maydays and Murphies: A Study of the Effect of Organizational Design, Task, and Stress on Organizational Performance |
31 JUL 92 |
75 pages |
| Authors:
Zhiang Lin; Kathleen Carley; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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| How should organizations of intelligent agents be designed so that they exhibit high performance even during periods of stress? We present a formal model of organizational performance given a distributed decision making environment in which agents encounter a radar detection task. using this model, we examine the performance of organizations with various organizational designs and task characteristics subject to various stresses. We distinguish two types of stress - external stress ... |
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| The Interaction Between Knowledge and Practice in the Acquisition of Cognitive Skills |
JUL 92 |
70 pages |
| Authors:
Stellan Ohlsson; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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| The role of prior knowledge in skill acquisition is to enable the learner to detect and to correct errors. Computational mechanisms that carry out these two functions are implemented in a simulation model which represents prior knowledge in constraints. The model learns symbolic skills in mathematics and science by noticing and correcting constraint violations. Results from simulation runs include quantitative predictions about the learning curve and about transfer of training. ... |
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| The Cognitive Function of Theoretical Knowledge in Procedural Learning |
MAR 92 |
5 pages |
| Authors:
Stellan Ohlsson; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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| The present project continuous work began under a previous project, 'Knowledge-based revision of cognitive procedures in response to changing task demands: Toward a theory of the nature and function of principled knowledge'. In the course of the previous project, a theory of skill acquisition was developed. The basic principles of this theory are that (1) skill acquisition consists of encoding the results of problem solving for future use, and (2) ... |
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| Learning by Explaining Examples to Oneself: A Computational Model |
17 FEB 92 |
59 pages |
| Authors:
Kurt VanLehn; Randolph M. Jones; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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| Several investigations have found that students learn more when they explain examples to themselves while studying them. Moreover, they refer less often to the examples while solving problems, and they read less of the example each time they refer to it. These findings, collectively called the self- explanation effect, have been reproduced by our cognitive simulation program, Cascade. Moreover, when Cascade is forced to explain exactly the parts of the ... |
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| A Tale of Two Settings: The Lab and the Classroom |
08 AUG 91 |
46 pages |
| Authors:
Janet W. Schofield; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| Computer science students were observed in the classrooms of five different teachers in an intensive two year qualitative study. Observations and interviews led to the conclusion that students reacted very differently to the time they spent in the computer lab working on written programs and the time they spent in the classroom where they learned about computers and programming through teacher-led lectures. Specifically, they enjoyed the lab more and were ... |
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| Quick Development Microcomputer System: Training Automatic Components for Electronic Troubleshooting |
JUN 91 |
17 pages |
| Authors:
Walter Schneider; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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| This report investigates how practice aids development of diagnostic troubleshooting skill and how to speed the skill acquisition process using desktop simulation techniques. Experiments show how practice can build up automatic component skills so they can be executed quickly, reliably, with little effort, and be incorporated into more complex skills. The researchers developed objective criteria that can be used in microcomputer software to specify when to promote a student from ... |
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| Coordination for Effective Performance during Crises When Training Matters |
29 APR 91 |
41 pages |
| Authors:
Kathleen Carley; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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| This paper examines what types of organizational structures are most effective during crisis, and least affected by crisis, as the level of training with the organization is varied. Many organizations are engaged in quasi- repetitive integrated decision making tasks in which similar problems occur one after the next but each problem is so complex that no one individual can access or analyze all pertinent information. In such organizations, training is ... |
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| The Content of Physics Self-Explanations |
22 OCT 90 |
64 pages |
| Authors:
Michelene T. Chi; Kurt A. Vanlehn; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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| Several earlier studies have found the amount learned while studying worked-out examples is proportional to the number of self-explanations generated while studying examples. A self-explanation is a comment about an example statement that contains domain-relevant information over and above what was stated in the example line itself. This article analyzes the specific content of self-explanations generated by students while studying physics examples. In particular, the content ia analyzed into pieces ... |
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| Artificial Instruction. A Method for Relating Learning Theory to Instructional Design |
SEP 90 |
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| Authors:
Stellan Ohlsson; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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| In the past, research on learning has been linked to instruction by the derivation of general principles of instructional design from learning theories. But such design principles are often difficult to apply to particular instructional issues. A new method for relating research on learning to instructional design is proposed: Different ways of teaching a particular topic can be evaluated by teaching that topic to a simulation model of learning and ... |
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| The Mechanism of Restructuring in Geometry |
MAY 90 |
24 pages |
| Authors:
Stellan Ohlsson; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| Restructuring consists of a change in the representation of the current search state, a process which breaks an impasse during problem solving by opening up new search paths. A corpus of 52 think-aloud protocols from the domain of geometry was scanned for evidence of restructuring. The data suggest that restructing is accomplished by re-parsing the geometric diagram. Knowledge and Understanding in Human Learning (KUL) is an umbrella term for a ... |
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| The Mechanism of Restructuring in Geometry |
MAY 90 |
24 pages |
| Authors:
Stellan Ohlsson; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| Restructuring consists of a change in the representation of the current search state, a process which breaks an impasse during problem solving by opening up new search paths. A corpus of 52 think-aloud protocols from the domain of geometry was scanned for evidence of restructuring. The data suggest that restructuring is accomplished by re-parsing the geometric diagram. |
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| Difficulty in Learning to Read Speech Spectrograms: The Role of Visual Segmentation |
07 FEB 90 |
39 pages |
| Authors:
Gareth Gabrys; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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| This work examines possible sources of training difficulty encountered by learners of speech spectrogram reading. Such difficulty has been attributed to the context-dependent nature of the visual segmentation of spectrogram patterns (Liberman et al, 1968), and suggestions by researchers of other difficult skills (Biederman & Shiffrar, 1983) have also implicated visual segmentation. In both cases, the discriminations necessary to distinguish important parts can be easily made once identified, but are ... |
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| Cognitive and Instructional Theories of Impasses in Learning |
07 FEB 90 |
44 pages |
| Authors:
Alan M. Lesgold; Gareth Gabrys; Maria Magone; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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| This is the final report of a series of experiments designed to study impasses in the learning of skills with a strong perceptual component. Several series of experiments were designed with the purpose of producing experimentally manipulable impasses or plateaus in the course of learning. Subjects in learning studies identified targets in various complex computer-presented displays. Among the factors manipulated were complexity, noise, salience, biassing instructions, and the distribution of ... |
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| Adaptive Search through Constraint Violations |
JAN 90 |
25 pages |
| Authors:
Stellan Ohlsson; Ernest Rees; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| We describe HS, a production system that learns control knowledge through adaptive search. Unlike most other psychological models of skill acquisition, HS is a model of analytical, or knowledge-based, learning. HS encodes general domain knowledge in state constraints patterns that describe those search states that are consistent with the principles of the problem domain. When HS encounters a search state that violates a state constraint, it revises the production rule ... |
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| Adaptive Search through Constraint Violations |
JAN 90 |
25 pages |
| Authors:
Stellan Ohlsson; Ernest Rees; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| Restructuring consists of a change in the representation of the current search state, a process which breaks an impasse during problem solving by opening up new search paths. A corpus of 52 think-aloud protocols from the domain of geometry was scanned for evidence of restructuring. This data suggest that restructuring is accomplished by re-parsing the geometric diagram. (cp) |
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| Feedback Effects in Computer-Based Skill Learning |
12 SEP 89 |
69 pages |
| Authors:
John M. Levine; Walter Schneider; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| This paper reports several experiments that investigated how performance feedback in a computer-based training environment affected students' acquisition of cognitive skills requiring substantial practice. College students worked on category-search or electronic troubleshooting tasks; problems were presented, responses were recorded, and performance feedback was given using microcomputer. We studied the impact of receiving information about (a) temporal trends in one's own performance (i.e., intrapersonal feedback alone) and (b) temporal trends in ... |
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| Impetus Then and Now: A Detailed Comparison between Jean Buridan and a Single Contemporary Subject |
AUG 89 |
49 pages |
| Authors:
Nina Robin; Stellan Ohlsson; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| Conceptual change in mechanics can neither be understood nor facilitated without knowledge of the content and structure of the common sense beliefs with which it starts. However, empirical investigations of common sense beliefs about physical motion have not yet produced a consensus about the correct characterization of such beliefs. Different researchers have proposed different hypothesis about the content of common sense beliefs, about their relations to historical theories in physics, ... |
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| Learning Theory and the Study of Instruction |
FEB 89 |
76 pages |
| Authors:
Robert Glaser; Miriam Bassok; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| This article examines the articulation of learning theory that is emerging from studies that take principled approaches to the design of instruction of complex forms of knowledge and skill. The representative studies discussed here are experimental instructional interventions that focus on: a) The acquisition of proceduralized skill, b) The development of regulatory and monitoring strategies of comprehension, and c) The acquisition of organized structures of knowledge. The programs' implications for ... |
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| Barriers and Incentives to Computer Usage in Teaching |
29 SEP 88 |
44 pages |
| Authors:
Janet W. Schofield; David Verban; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| An intensive qualitative two-year study of computer usage in an urban high school suggested many barriers to the utilization of microcomputers for instructional purposes. These barriers included (a) teachers' lack of clarity about why and how computers can be used in various fields, (b) teachers' lack of familiarity with computer hardware and software, (c) the overload of knowledgeable teachers, (d) the inertia inherent in a system in which well- established ... |
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| An Information Processing Analysis of the Function of Conceptual Understanding in the Learning of Arithmetic Procedures |
AUG 88 |
100 pages |
| Authors:
Stellan Ohlsson; Ernest Reese; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| School children learn arithmetic procedures by rote, rather than by constructing them on the basis of their understanding of numbers. Rote learning produces lack of flexibility, nonsensical errors, and other difficulties in learning. Mathematics educators have proposed that if arithmetic procedures were constructed under the influence of conceptual understanding of the principles of arithmetic, then procedure acquisition would not suffer from these difficulties. However, little effort has been investigated in ... |
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| Learning from Examples via Self-Explanations |
13 JUL 88 |
55 pages |
| Authors:
Michelene T. Chi; Miriam Bassok; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| This paper summarizes the results of our investigation of: 1) how students learn to solve simple mechanics problems; 2) what is learned when they study worked-out examples in the text; and 3) how they use what has been learned from the examples while solving problems. We also provide justifications for why mechanics problems were chosen, why we examined learning from examples, and how we can capture the understanding of examples ... |
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| Explanatory Coherence and Belief Revision in Naive Physics |
JUL 88 |
25 pages |
| Authors:
Michael Ranney; Paul Thagard; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| Students of reasoning have long tried to understand how people revise systems of beliefs. We maintain that people often change their beliefs in ways driven by considerations of explanatory coherence. This report describes computational model of how experimental subjects revise their naive beliefs about physical motion. First, instances are presented in which subjects changed their beliefs while learning elementary physics. Each of these cases involved an individual's attempt to explain ... |
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| SHERLOCK: A Coached Practice Environment for an Electronics Troubleshooting Job |
MAR 88 |
30 pages |
| Authors:
Alan Lesgold; Susanne Lajoie; Marilyn Bunzo; Gary Eggan; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| Sherlock is a computer-based supported practice environment for a complex troubleshooting job in th Air Force. This chapter describes the training problem for which Sherlock was developed, the principles behind its development, and its implementation. The training problem is severe and representative of a common problem in our high-technology society. People who will fill a position for a brief period (four years or less for many in this Air Force ... |
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| Inference and Discovery in an Exploratory Laboratory |
FEB 88 |
|
| Authors:
Valerie Shute; Robert Glaser; Kalyani Raghavan; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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| This paper describes the results of a study done as part of a research program investigating the use of computer-based laboratories to support self-paced discovery learning in domains like microeconomics, electricity, and light refraction. Program objectives include maximizing the laboratories' effectiveness in helping students learn content knowledge, as well as identifying and coaching effective inference and discovery behaviors. This study with the microeconomics discovery laboratory demonstrates that computer-based laboratories can ... |
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| Cognitive and Instructional Factors in the Acquisition and Maintenance of Skill |
26 JAN 88 |
|
| Authors:
Alan Lesgold; James Greeno; Robert Glaser; James Pellegrino; William Chase; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| The purpose of the contract was to study the psychological characteristics and instructional factors of skill acquisition in jobs requiring high levels of expertise. One of the goals of the work was to examine the acquisition of competence in skills that require hundreds or even thousands of hours of instruction and practice. This work was carried out by a collection of several separate research projects which were combined into a ... |
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| Self-Explanations: How Students Study and Use Examples in Learning to Solve Problems |
03 NOV 87 |
|
| Authors:
Michelene T. Chi; Matthew W. Lewis; Peter Reimann; Robert Glaser; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| The present paper analyzes in detail (talk-aloud protocols) 'Good' and 'Poor' students' initial encoding of worked-out examples of mechanics problems, and their subsequent reliance on examples during problem solving. We find that 'Good' students learn with understanding: they generate many explanations which refine and expand the conditions for the action parts of the example solutions, and relate these actions to principles in the text. These self-explanations are guided by accurate ... |
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| Chips: A Tool for Developing Software Interfaces Interactively |
OCT 87 |
|
| Authors:
Robert E. Cunningham; John D. Corbett; Jeffrey G. Bonar; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| Chips is an interactive tool for developing software employing graphical human/computer interfaces on Xerox Lisp machines. For the programmer, It provides a rich graphical interface for the creation of rich graphical interfaces. In the service of an end user, It provides classes for modeling the graphical relationships of objects on the screen and maintaining constraints between them. Several large applications have been developed with Chips including intelligent tutors for programming ... |
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| A Visual Programming Language for Novices |
30 SEP 87 |
|
| Authors:
Jeffrey G. Bonar; Blaise W. Liffick; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| We present BridgeTalk, a new approach to visual languages for novice programmers. The design of BridgeTalk is based on data about how novices learn to program. BridgeTalk allows novices to program with programming plans -- frame-like objects that capture essential program components like keep a running total and iterate down a data structure. Novices are focused on the interactions between plans, not on the implementation details for a particular plan. ... |
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| Trace Analysis and Spatial Reasoning: An Example of Intensive Cognitive Diagnosis and Its Implications for Testing |
SEP 87 |
|
| Authors:
Stellan Ohlsson; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| Recent theoretical developments in cognitive psychology imply both a need and possibility for methodological development. In particular, the theory of problem solving proposed by Allen Newell and Herbert A. Simon provides a rationale for a new empirical method that here will be called trace analysis. A detailed example is presented in which trace analysis is applied to human performance on a spatial reasoning task. The relations between trace analysis, on ... |
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| An Object-Oriented Architecture for Intelligent Tutoring Systems |
14 AUG 87 |
|
| Authors:
Jeffrey Bonar; Robert Cunningham; Jamie Schultz; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| This report describes an object oriented architecture for intelligent tutoring systems, oriented around objects that represent the knowledge elements to be taught by the tutor. Each of these knowledge elements, called bites inherits both a knowledge organization describing the kind of knowledge represented and tutoring components that provide the functionality to accomplish standard tutoring tasks like diagnosis, student modeling, and task selection. We illustrate the approach with several tutors implemented ... |
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| Toward a Theory of Curriculum for Use in Designing Intelligent Instructional Systems |
03 AUG 87 |
|
| Authors:
Alan M. Lesgold; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| Implicit in the approaches being taken by current efforts to create intelligent computer-based instruction is the notion that curriculum is almost an epiphenomenon of knowledge-driven instruction. Early computer-based instruction had little control structure other than an absolutely rigid curriculum and was insensitive to the subtleties of different students' partial knowledge. There was a reaction in the direction of representing the students' knowledge as a subset of the target or goal ... |
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| Toward Intelligence Systems for Testing |
MAR 87 |
|
| Authors:
Alan M. Lesgold; Jeffrey G. Bonar; Joyce Ivill; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| This report describes an adaptive, cognitive approach to diagnostic testing for instruction: steering testing. Steering testing is brief diagnostic testing that steers, or individualizes, the course of instruction. When a diagnosis is needed, that student model (i.e., what is currently known about the student's competence) is examined, and areas of competence about which more information is needed are identified. These areas represent constraints on the type of test item that ... |
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| Thoughts on Expertise |
01 MAY 85 |
36 pages |
| Authors:
R. Glaser; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| Research on tasks in knowledge-rich domains including developmental studies , work in artificial intelligence, studies of expert/novice problem solving, and information-processing analyses of aptitude test tasks have provided increased understanding of the nature of expertise. Particularly evident is the finding that structures of organized knowledge enable the cognitive processes characteristic of high levels of competence. This paper briefly reviews this research and lists a set of propositions that summarize conclusions ... |
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| SPIRIT: An Evolutionally Designed Intelligent Tutoring System |
JUL 1984 |
|
| Authors:
H. E. Pople Jr; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| SPIRIT is an Intelligent Tutoring System for tutoring probability theory which has evolved through a continuous process of experimentation and tuning. The system manages a unique flexible tutoring style. On one hand, the system may behave as a tutor who mostly observes the student without interference, intervening only when things are really going wrong and on the other hand, it may behave as a tutor who manages a questioning and ... |
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| Prealgebra Students' Knowledge of Algebraic Tasks with Arithmetic Expressions |
JUL 1984 |
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| Authors:
S. Chaiklin; S. B. Lesgold; PITTSBURGH UNIV PA LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER
|
| Knowledge about the structure of arithmetic expressions enables people to reason effectively about such expressions, including an ability to judge equivalence under transformations. This paper reports an empirical study of six middle-school children who judged the equivalence of three sets of three- term arithmetic expressions with an addition and a subtraction operator. Analyses of thinking-aloud protocols on this task reveal that the students (a) use several different methods to parse ... |
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Reports by Corporate Author
