PERC 2015 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | An Intelligent Tutoring System that Supports Conceptual Understanding of Physics |
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| Abstract: | As physics teachers know, even the best students often master the ability to solve quantitative problems, but nonetheless don't understand basic physics concepts. To address this problem, we developed Rimac, a tutoring system that engages students in natural-language dialogues about the concepts associated with just-solved problems. Rimac's dialogues implement empirically-derived principles to guide the tutor in asking questions about the concepts associated with a problem, and the tutor's feedback on students' responses. These principles stem from our extensive analyses of tutoring sessions between human physics teachers and students. We describe a recent study that compared two versions of Rimac in high school physics classrooms: an experimental version that deliberately executes the tutoring principles and a control version that does not, but implements prior state-of-the-art dialogue generation practices. Although students learned from both versions of the tutor, the experimental group outperformed the control group and was especially beneficial for female students. |
| Abstract Type: | Contributed Poster Presentation |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Sandra Katz Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh 3939 O'Hara Street Pittsburgh, PA 15260 Phone: 412-624-7054 Fax: 412-624-9149 |
| Co-Author(s) and Co-Presenter(s) |
Pamela Jordan, Patricia Albacete Learning Research and Development Center University of Pittsburgh |
